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THE marketing and advertising industries have weathered countless disruptions, but AI marks an unprecedented shift. Having lowered the technical barriers to automation and efficiency, it’s now redefining creative execution.
Previously limited by our depth of knowledge and research capabilities, democratised access to talking encyclopaedias that can instantly draw from the collective works of humankind is forcing us to live at the boundaries of creativity to stay competitive.
With AI tools evolving at blinding speeds, the industry is navigating a shifting path of uncertainty. How are those at the forefront making sense of it all?
Challenges in Work
Tay Guan Hin, APAC Regional Director for The One Club for Creativity, gives voice to the lingering worry in all of our minds — do we still have a job?
Guan gives his general verdict on the industry’s job landscape. “For entry-level jobs, for example someone starting to be a writer, I think those will disappear. But for the remainder of the work force, having a broad range of skills in conjunction with access to AI tools will enable them to stay on top of the changing environment.”
Pradeep D’Souza, Co-Founder and Creative Director at Nine:TwentyEight, also ponders the changes the industry will need to undertake to reflect the current environment. “We need to adapt as an industry. Job roles and titles might change, talent will keep coming in; how we adapt to the technology is crucial. I don’t know whether this can be done agency by agency, or on an industry level, to make it easy for everyone to move forward together. No one knows what the best way forward is.”
Ng Chan Wah, AI/ML Cybersecurity Research Lead at Acronis, gives his extra-industry opinion. “One year in the AI world is like 10 years. What happened last year is already obsolete. We also have to be wary of market sectors being monopolised. Take the marketing, sales and services platform Salesforce, who are using a lot of AI. A lot of small players — for example advertising companies — have no choice but to use their AI analytics.”
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Turning from Traditional Roles
Guan reflects on the current structure of creative departments and details how he believes job roles will change. “We used to have art directors, copywriters, strategists, the whole system. I think now, with AI, people who just write copy, art direct etc, will be obsolete. What we need are AI editors — AI gives them options that they can choose from and edit together. People who follow instructions will be obsolete, but people who can think will be saved. People who do predictive, repetitive work will be replaced. Roles are changing based on the tools we are given, and we need to rise to the challenge.”
Nodding to those already monetising AI, Guan believes the ever-growing suite of available tools will continue to level the playing field. “AI gives those who are less talented a superpower. For example, on YouTube, people are making tonnes of money with AI. I spent about three years writing my book without ChatGPT, and now thousands of books are being produced every day and are sold on Amazon as e-books. People have exploited AI.”
For the honest (less tech-minded) remainder, Guan recommends leveraging AI to reinvent themselves and to avoid being left behind in the changing landscape.
“If we let AI scare us into doubling down on our old jobs, we’ll be guaranteed to be made obsolete.”
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Collaborating With Yourself
But to Guan, the benefits of the increased efficiency are also clear, “It’s like collaborating with myself, whenever I use ChatGPT, it understands how I think and operate. By helping us save time with all of the predictable tasks, we have more time to think.”
Pradeep also uses generative AI (genAI) as a medium for self-collaboration. “There are some limitations to it, but it’s a nice way to get the ball rolling and brainstorm new ways of doing things.”
While anticipating tech overdependence, Pradeep ponders its impact on creativity. “It leads to underutilisation of our brains; over dependence on AI will result in outcomes that seem very normal. Creativity is all about how we can use human ingenuity to create something new, interesting, or relatable. I don’t think AI redefines creativity, I think it redefines processes.”
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Tools of the Trade
Beyond job security woes, Guan poses a more pragmatic question, “Can you keep up with all the AI tools and all the learnings? Every single day a new tool comes along, and the mere thought of trying to stay up to date keeps me awake at night.
Guan and Pradeep are ardent users of both ChatGPT and Gemini. From testing various platforms Guan has experienced that, “The prompts make a big difference, sometimes you need to understand how each prompt works. When you prompt for a visual, you need to give a lot of details to achieve exactly what you are looking for.”
Pradeep highlights the level of detail achievable with the correct prompt, “You can even go down to detailing the kind of lenses you want, where you want the lighting to come from, and that is so technical to a certain extent. It’s worth [the effort] if you get a quality image.”
With so many tools available, Guan warns that knowing just one or two isn’t enough — everyone working with genAI should understand around 20. “There are now AI tools specifically for making presentations and movies, and writing scripts. The real issue is how do you find the best tools without wasting too much money. You may not be able to get a good sense of a tool’s ability from free trials alone.”
But Chan Wah believes AI tools will become easier to use, with AI itself improving the experience — citing Midjourney as an example. “Previously, before Midjourney, you would need to learn how to use several different multimedia tools. With Midjourney, all you need to do is prompt what you want to see in natural language, and you get it. This will only become more prevalent.” Hence, multiple tools may eventually consolidate into a single platform or service.
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Other Newer Tools
The emergence of DeepSeek has upset the initial genAI players. “It’s a ‘reasoning model,’ unlike ChatGPT and Gemini, which are chat models needing precise prompts. Reasoning models require less prompting to reach a result,” Chan Wah outlines its unique features.
“It forces players not to get complacent. There are rumours that they had the reasoning model one or two years ago already, but had no reason to push it out until DeepSeek came along,” he continues.
DeepSeek’s open-source nature sets it apart from ChatGPT and other big-tech AI models, which remain closed-source. While not yet matching the top proprietary models, DeepSeek has demonstrated strong performance with potentially greater efficiency. By making its code publicly available, it has lowered barriers for others to develop high-quality genAI tools, contributing to a more open and competitive AI landscape.
Pradeep feels you should consider your options when working with genAI. “There are so many tools coming out every day, it may be better to focus on getting a good result out of one tool before hopping to the next one. Trying everything can be counterproductive.”
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Client Tech Jitters
Tech advances are theoretically cost-reducing, but the creative industry still relies heavily on significant manpower and is not yet equipped to fully leverage these technologies without compromising quality.
From experience, Pradeep’s clients have been open to its use in creating work. “For one of our clients, we used AI to optimise the process of changing imagery, specifically to age them slightly. That was done in less than 30 seconds because of AI. People could instantly see how things might look for them in the future.”
Pradeep’s clients are open to the use of AI to optimise processes, but he cautions, “It shouldn’t just be used for the sake of using it, in my opinion.”
Guan views AI as still in a prototyping stage, particularly in areas like conceptual design or illustration, and emphasises transparency with clients when deploying the tech.
Guan urges users to learn the details of where genAI images come from and how to use data responsibly. “Many images are copywritten or stolen from artists, Shutterstock has something called ‘Ethical AI’, where they use genAI based on their existing stock of photographs and pay their artists a certain percentage [of the fees].”
Tales of the AI/Human Collab
As agencies embrace new tech, they expand their digital attack surface. Chan Wah stresses the importance of a strong backup solution as the first line of defence against malicious attacks. He warns that cyberattacks will increase, urging vigilance, and notes that all cybersecurity companies are now using AI to combat AI-driven threats.
Watch the full discussion of WED WEB CHAT — The AI/Human Collab: Next Steps For Marketing & Advertising below.
Watch our previous wedwebchats: https://storm-asia.com/category/wed-web-chat/
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