Purpose: To explore the influence of marketing AI on marketing managers' attention allocation to leverage customer relationships in different business-to-business contexts. Method: Abductive approach and multiple case study, data collection was made by qualitative semi-structured interviews and secondary data collection. Conclusion: The study identified both similarities and differences within three main categories across two industrial clusters where marketing AI effect marketing managers’ attention allocation in B2B relationships. Marketing AI is shown to affect B2B relationships through marketing managers’ attentional selection towards efficiencies and/or new opportunities. Marketing AI is shown to influence marketing managers’ attention allocation by distorting the focus of attention on relational dynamics by introducing automated or augmented marketing AI solutions into the relationship.

Background:  Artificial Intelligence (AI) has reshaped marketing, particularly with the advent of Generative AI (GAI), streamlining content creation processes. Highlighted by the European Commission, AI in the Cultural and Creative Sectors (CCS) promises economic and social benefits, potentially enhancing global visibility and marketing strategies. Amid digital transformation, there is a need to develop ways to engage digital audiences with content. Meanwhile, the digital content consumption has made platforms like podcasts popular, blending information and entertainment to attract diverse audiences.   Purpose: This research aims to explore what motivates content creators to engage with GAI in the creative process and how they perceive its influence on their creativity during the interaction.   Method:  The research philosophy of this study is rooted in interpretivism ontology. Given the lack of theories about human creativity and AI, this research employs inductive methods to expand the Componential Model of Creativity (Amabile, 1983). Recognising that creativity is entrenched in social psychology, where interpretations are subjective, this research utilised Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) with semi-structured interviews.   Conclusion:              There are several motivations for using GAI in the creative process, including curiosity, its role as a co-creator for in brainstorming, and its ability to enhance efficiency and provide information. However, content creators have concerns that an over-reliance on GAI could replace elements of the creative process and therefore reduce human creativity. Content creators regard human input as a crucial element of the creative process to ensure authentic and genuine innovation.