Artificial Intelligence (AI) and events: professional insights through the lens of stakeholder theory

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to reshape service industries globally, the events sector stands at a pivotal point in its digital evolution. This exploratory study examines the perceptions and preparedness of UK-based event professionals to incorporate AI into design, planning, and management practices. Framed through stakeholder theory and extending the conceptual foundations laid by Neuhofer et al. (2020), the research explores how AI influences stakeholder dynamics, value co-creation, and ethical engagement within event ecosystems.Drawing on qualitative interviews with twenty-six experienced event professionals in the United Kingdom, conducted between January and April 2023, the study finds that professionals simultaneously welcome AI's potential for personalisation and operational efficiency, while voicing concerns about over-automation, diminished creativity, and stakeholder exclusion. Building on Neuhofer et al.’s conceptual scenarios, this research grounds those trajectories in lived practitioner experience, offering empirical insight into how AI adoption is shaped by sectoral context and stakeholder influence.A key contribution is the development of the AI in Events Stakeholder Framework, which reconfigures traditional stakeholder models to incorporate AI-specific actors, such as technology developers, ethical advocates, and regulatory bodies. This is further operationalised through the integration of Mitchell et al.’s (1997) stakeholder salience framework, which reveals how power, legitimacy, and urgency dynamically influence AI governance across different event formats. The study underscores the need for inclusive implementation strategies and targeted upskilling, emphasising that AI integration must align with stakeholder values to preserve the industry’s human-centric identity while enabling responsible innovation.