Artificial Intelligence in Events

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital technologies are increasingly integrated across various economic sectors, including the events industry. Over the years, the event industry has adopted innovations such as online ticketing, mobile apps, and wearables to enhance customer experiences and engagement. While there is academic literature on the above-mentioned technological advancement, the adoption of AI, particularly in association events, remains underexplored. This research fills this gap by exploring the current and potential adoption of AI by the events industry from a technological, organizational and environmental perspective. The study also records the perceived AI challenges around data privacy, ethics, and the human touch. Using a mix methods approach, three clusters of AI adoption have been defined: laggards, prudent adopters, and advanced adopters, described also in terms of the external pressures, particularly from event goers, that are driving the AI integration.