Publicis to invest €300m in AI

In a statement accompanying its preliminary financial update, Publicis said it expects to invest €100m in AI in 2024, with 50% of that focused on upskilling, training and recruitment, and 50% on technology, through licenses, IT software and cloud infrastructure.

Publicis began engineering its AI system, CoreAI, in the second half of 2023, and plans to begin rolling it out in the first six months of this year.

CoreAI combines the company’s proprietary data, including data based on consumer profiles globally and data points on content, media and business performance.

The system will make data points accessible to all Publicis employees, which the company said would boost its insight and strategy, media planning and buying, creative production, software and operations.

Publicis acquired data and technology businesses Sapient in 2015 and Epsilon in 2019, and in recent years has restructured to shift away from a holding company model to a platform model. The company said these moves would position the group to “fully harness the power of AI, to become an intelligent system company capable of connecting every data point, from across every expertise, business unit and geography”.

The company said it will fund the investment of 100m Euros in 2024 by “internal efficiencies”.

Arthur Sadoun, chief executive and chairman, Publicis Groupe (pictured), said: “Putting CoreAI at the heart of our organisation and truly becoming an intelligent system company will make our people more efficient and more productive. But way more importantly, it will allow everyone to do things tomorrow that no one can do today, guided by the highest ethical standards, and at the service of our clients’ growth.

“As we enter our second century, we are confident that all of the efforts we have made to transform and the ongoing investment we are making in our people and technology will allow Publicis to continue to outperform its peers on organic growth, sustain the highest financial KPIs, and lead the change in our industry.”