AI-Driven Platforms and the Transformation of Marketing Ecosystems

Dear Colleagues,

Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as the strategic engine of digital platforms, fundamentally transforming marketing ecosystems. AI-driven platforms orchestrate value creation through algorithmic recommendation systems that generate content, automate advertising, and enable data-driven personalization at an unprecedented scale. Despite the widespread adoption of AI technologies across platform environments, scholarly understanding of their implications for marketing competition, consumer welfare, and governance remains fragmented and theoretically underdeveloped.

While existing research has examined certain dimensions of platform economics and digital ecosystems separately, the transformative role of AI in reshaping platform-based business models and competitive dynamics deserves deeper theoretical and empirical investigation. Machine learning algorithms and generative AI systems now mediate critical marketing functions, yet their effects on firm–customer interactions, platform labor markets, data flows, network effects, and algorithmic rules remain insufficiently understood. Moreover, the integration of AI capabilities within complex platform ecosystems generates novel strategic questions regarding market power, innovation trajectories, and ethical considerations.

This Special Issue aims to advance interdisciplinary research that bridges marketing, platform economics, strategy, information systems, and digital policy. It invites conceptual frameworks, empirical studies, experimental research, and methodological contributions exploring how AI-driven platforms are reshaping contemporary digital markets. Submissions may examine platform competition strategies, algorithmic governance models, generative AI as platform infrastructure, platform-enabled ecosystem innovation, consumer protection in algorithmic environments, the future of platform labor, or international strategies in digital ecosystems. Contributions addressing antitrust concerns, data ownership, transparency, and ethical AI are particularly encouraged.

Scholars employing diverse methodologies are welcome to contribute to this dialogue. By inviting rigorous theoretical analyses and empirical investigations, this Special Issue seeks to deepen the understanding of how intelligent platforms transform contemporary marketing ecosystems and to identify pathways toward more equitable, transparent, and sustainable digital markets.

Examples of Thematic Areas

Theoretical and Conceptual Contributions:

• AI-driven digital platform architectures and their strategic implications.
• Theoretical frameworks for understanding AI-enabled platform ecosystems.
• Generative AI as foundational platform infrastructure.
• Platform competition dynamics in AI-mediated markets.
• Algorithmic differentiation and competitive advantage.

Empirical and Methodological Research:

• Consumer behavior in algorithmically curated environments.
• Data governance, ownership, and algorithmic transparency.
• Platform labor markets and gig economy implications.
• AI-enabled ecosystem innovation and value co-creation.
• Business model evolution in AI-driven platforms.

Strategic and Policy-Oriented Studies:

• Market power dynamics, monopoly, and antitrust in AI platforms.
• Algorithmic governance and regulatory frameworks.
• Ethical AI, fairness, and consumer protection.
• International strategies and cross-border platform competition.
• AI-driven personalization, targeting, and customer orchestration.

Emerging Technologies and Future Directions:

• Blockchain-based virtual reality platforms and AI integration.
• Metaverse platforms and immersive marketing ecosystems.
• Internet of Things (IoT) platforms and AI-driven services.
• Future of digital entrepreneurship in intelligent platform economies.
• Cross-border platform strategies in a digitalized, AI-mediated world.

Prof. Dr. Saïd Echchakoui
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Platforms is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.