The prosperity of artificial intelligence has brought new opportunities for audience analysis and media effect studies both theoretically and methodologically. Aiming at academic frontier and local research, this article explored latest trends, theoretical development and methodological changes of audience analysis and media effect research in AI era, and predicted the future of communication research through an academic dialogue with Prof. Jonathan J. H. Zhu and Jeffrey T. Hancock. Besides, it offered helpful suggestions for the internationalization of Chinese communication study. As technology and data added new details for user studies, mixed methods, computing skills, and data ethics deserved more attention. Micro-level and middle-range theories are still important. Chinese communication researchers could make more progress in theorization and generalization.