This article first appeared in Digital Edge, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on September 23, 2024 - September 29, 2024

The creative industry was one of the first few that global tech leaders said would be made redundant when generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) came into existence. After a couple of years, creative roles across industries seem to be unaffected or, at most, to have gone through a phase of recalibration, so that AI and humans can work together to create the best outcome.

Digital Edge spoke to Teng Chan Leong, CEO of Skribble, to find out how the industry has evolved since then and what it will look like. Skribble is a solutions provider that covers marketing, business, digital and technology.

Digital Edge: In the creative industry, what roles do AI and tech play?

Teng Chan Leong: There are several popular narrations, the first being that AI will replace the manual workforce. The impact in the Malaysian context is less felt, however, since our cost of labour is still cheaper than the price of automation.

The second narration is that AI is used to complement and enhance user productivity, which is more popular because it doesn’t remove humans completely from the process and it acknowledges that there is a strategic role in creativity that AI can’t replicate, but I don’t think that it is this simple.

There are a lot more factors that need to be considered. My take is that a new job function that integrates creative strategy, copywriting, visual design, video and audio will arise out of this. The new function will remove the conversation of automation and productivity boost, and instead force the industry to acknowledge that there could be multiple new hybrid roles that are more independent. Therefore, as a whole, it creates more productivity and a higher-level quality of output because of the integration and seamlessness.

The impact is not a reduction of the creative workforce but an entire genre of workforce that will be made redundant because of the rise of these new hybrid roles. It really is comparable to when cars replaced horse carts. Instead of stablehands, we now need mechanics. It’s also not just a complementary tool, because it doesn’t just allow you to do more, faster; it fundamentally changes what you do, akin to how an architect today designs in a 3D space rather than on a 2D piece of paper.

How can companies find the balance between the use of AI and creativity? Is the value of creativity diminished when tech and AI are applied?

The focus should be on AI versus authenticity, instead of creativity. If we define creativity as being different, relevant and impactful, AI is definitely able to pull from its vast library of pattern recognition to know what works. The more AI is used, the more creativity we will see and, I do hope, with the low barrier of AI, we won’t see another cringey billboard and tacky tagline.

But what works may be objectively creative, but not genuine. Therefore, the goal is in making sure that the work still genuinely reflects the brand ambition, and not just pursuing creativity for the sake of finding attention. AI wouldn’t be able to judge — at least, not yet.

Are there specific trends that you’re seeing?

The first is the emergence of AI gurus. Just like business, e-commerce and social media gurus, there’s always someone out there to capitalise on hype, and the industry needs to be wary. There’s no shortcut to learning except learning.

The second is the imposters. Instead of labelling themselves as a digital or creative agency, they’d start labelling themselves as an AI agency. It sounds catchy. The number of imposters who jump on the AI bandwagon without much understanding of the value, potential and purpose will rise. There will be enough new demand to fuel these business models, but just like other new trend hijackers, it dies fast. Don’t build a business on a shaky platform. Make mistakes, but do it with a long-term view, instead of a short-term gain.

The third is misinformed clients. With the spike in AI conversation, Fomo (fear of missing out) will kick in and clients will start requesting for AI work. Not just because they expect it to be cheaper or faster, but because they want to be on the AI wave. This fuels the “AI agencies” above.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. A positive trend that will emerge is a new generation of agencies that truly understands AI that will set the bar on how AI should work in the creative space. The rest of us will have to follow suit because the new way will be the better way.

Are there any up-and-coming technologies that creatives can look out for?

Some technologies on our radar are:

• Technology that will push AI adoption through existing tools or new tools. We see this with Canva and Adobe integrating AI into their suite.

• Technology that governs generative AI and protects the work. With all our work being profiled and added to the library as pattern references for their AI models, there will be more new technology that will provide better protection, so your contribution as a creator is safeguarded.

• Technology that is built for a whole new genre of workforce. It’s a tool that allows a copywriter to design and a designer to strategise. These tools will promote these new integrated roles. Agencies will have to compete against a well-equipped freelancer.

• Technology that is hyper contextualised. This is probably the most useful of them all. Tools such as Cleve.ai, built by a Malaysian team, looks like another caption generator that most gen AI can do, but behind the brand is a beast of a tech that allows for a very contextualised work generation. Tools like this will emerge rapidly and each generation will get even better.

Comparing Malaysia with the rest of Southeast Asia, are we behind in the utilisation of AI and tech in creative industries?

Malaysia is definitely not behind. I don’t think any particular country stands out as a faster adopter yet. In all fairness, each country has its own merits and challenges. But in the spirit of growth, I do want us to acknowledge our drivers and pain points, so we can collectively build better resiliency and drive AI adoption to be at least on a par with, if not leading, the region.

Many clients in Malaysia are not spending as much as their regional counterparts, therefore, there is not much to spur the industry’s competitiveness. Our skilled talents are highly desirable; so, as usual, we will continue to experience brain drain, where our best prompt engineers and designers will prefer a fairer compensation through a remote global role or migrating to neighbouring countries.

Adoption will be accelerated purely from the high cost of skilled labour. On top of that, Singapore is a regional hub with a strong currency. There is a need for innovative and differentiated solutions; or else, the competitors will swoop right in. Although it is the most expensive country to live in in the region, it still attracts global talents. Owing to the high availability of skilled labour, albeit expensive, strong budget and financial motivation and strong competition, it’s no surprise that Singapore will drive forward faster.

Thailand is a regional powerhouse. Although it has a higher population, availability of skilled talent is limited and expensive. This will promote maximising of these skilled talents to be able to do more. The fact that it is a larger economy also means there is more economic motivation for each agency to continue to innovate and compete.

Indonesia is, in many ways, similar to Thailand. It seems like they already have a huge local economy to tap into and that itself is a good driver of innovation. But on top of that, they also have a huge potential as a service exporter with a growing number of educated and skilled labour at a much lower cost than even Malaysia. Technology players will be attracted to Indonesia, given the sheer size of their population and economy.

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