With recent advancements in the quality and capabilities of generative AI tools like Adobe Firefly, Midjourney, ChatGPT, and Google Gemini, more domestic enterprises are confidently integrating these tools into their daily workflows.
Alongside using generative AI to streamline creative tasks like marketing campaigns and social media/website updates, industry AI technologies like automation tools and other AIaaS (‘AI as a service’) are rapidly being adopted as essential components of professional workflows across virtually all industries.
Across India, almost all professionals are using AI tools in one way or another to make their working lives a little easier and more productive. AI is being used to speed up repetitive tasks, experiment with new ideas, and produce content more efficiently without replacing the need for human creativity – and that’s all only a small fraction of how AI is helping creatives take their work to the next level.
From artists and designers to filmmakers, marketers, and content creators, AI tools are empowering creatives to spend less time on the tedious bits so they can focus on what they actually enjoy doing: creating.
Here are just some of the biggest ways Indian creatives are embracing AI today.
1. From Static to Dynamic Asset Generation
The first generation of gen AI tools focused on image generation, with some very pedestrian attempts at video generation. Today, however, one of the fastest-growing trends for creatives is using an image to video AI generator to effortlessly transform static artwork or photographs into dynamic multimedia content. Today’s image to video AI tools are poised to generate engaging and publication-ready short videos in a matter of minutes, sparing creators the hours it would take to create and edit videos from the ground up.
This has become especially popular with social media creators, ad agencies, and small businesses alike, all of whom are under pressure to put out new material on social media on a near-daily basis. With image to video AI, an illustrator can add a touch of movement to make their digital artwork come alive. A photographer might opt for an animated slide over a conventional static gallery to showcase a portfolio. The possibilities are endless, but in all cases, greater access to video production is making social media promotion a more even playing field.
For many Indian freelancers juggling multiple clients, these tools also make it much easier to honour tight deadlines without sacrificing quality. Most importantly, they’re opening doors to creative ideas that simply weren’t realistic for smaller teams a few years ago.
2. Faster Editing & Refining Means More Time for Creating
There’s no denying that AI has been remarkably effective at culling the more monotonous aspects of design projects.
According to this recent report from Adobe, AI use is on the upswing in the Asia-Pacific region, with many professionals based in India, South Korea, and Australia saying AI tools are supporting productivity by streamlining the more monotonous aspects of creative work, like editing and refining.
That balance is exactly what many Indian designers are aiming for. With AI-powered editing tools, creators can automate routine tasks like removing backgrounds, generating colour variations, cleaning up photos, or expanding images (among many other things), but the heart and soul still comes from the person behind the screen.
The result isn’t less creativity, but rather more time for true creating and ideating over rote tasks like editing.
3. Empowering Small Businesses To Take Control of their Branding & Marketing
India’s startup and small business landscape is also growing from strength to strength in the age of AI, thanks in part to support available for tech startups through the IndiaAI Mission. But for startups and small businesses that fall outside of the parameters of AI innovators, AI is still playing a major role not only in daily business management but also development strategising.
For SMEs that may not have the funding to maintain a full in-house creative team, generative AI is helping to close the divide. With generative AI tools, small businesses can maintain greater control over marketing asset production, allowing SME teams the capacity to develop and roll out polished campaign materials without the need for third-party marketers, designers, and other costly consultants and specialists.
In other words, with generative AI for marketing and branding, your local cafe can now quickly generate social media graphics and even create polished photo posts without having to allocate spend for professional marketing services. This simply wouldn’t have been possible without significant cost investment even just a few short years ago. In this regard, generative AI is empowering small business owners to promote their business more sustainably, ensuring global small business communities can enjoy a more level playing field and opportunities to compete with even their enterprise competitors.
4. Supporting India’s Growing Film and Content Industry
India is the world’s largest film producer, churning out a steady stream of entertainment from 75 years’ worth of big Bollywood blockbusters to TV serials, podcasts, and YouTube channels today. What most who are tuning in might not realise is that AI is beginning to streamline parts of the production process behind the scenes.
With the help of AI, editors can zero in on the right clips faster and easier. Visual effects teams can automate repetitive masking and tracking tasks, while enhancement tools can clean up noisy audio recordings.
Some content creators are even putting AI to the test when it comes to brainstorming video concepts, generating thumbnails, and monitoring their performance. Using AI-powered data analytics tools for social media management, iterating content and creative decision-making is easier, empowering more Indian web creators to keep creating at a higher volume and to a consistently higher quality as well.
5. Giving Independent Creators More Opportunities
Not every creative in India is working in a big agency or production studio, and that’s where AI is making a noticeable difference. Freelancers, solo designers, photographers, and illustrators now have access to tools that would have been far more expensive or time-consuming just a few years ago.
Need to put together a quick client mock-up? Tidy up product photos? Test a few different concepts before settling on one? AI can take care of a lot of the busywork, leaving more time for the creative side of the project.
Generative AI tools are also giving emerging or entry level creatives a bit more confidence in building up a portfolio earlier on in their careers. Experience still matters, of course, but demonstrating AI skills-building is also a major futureproofing strategy for young professionals as it is.
6. Finding The Right Balance Between AI and Human Creativity
Most creatives aren’t turning to AI to do the heavy lifting, and they probably never will. That’s honestly a good thing. For the most part, knowing when to integrate AI is all about picking the right tasks, whether that’s generating a few ideas at the beginning of your creative project, speeding up editing to resolve project deliverables, or even just taking care of repetitive administrative tasks along the way.
The fun part still comes afterwards: using your own human brain to call the shots. Choosing the best idea, tweaking the details, and putting your own spin on a project is what makes creative work feel original in the first place. That’s why so many Indian creatives are treating AI as something that works alongside them instead of something that takes over. Used well, AI integration simply gives creatives more freedom to focus on the parts of the job they find most rewarding.
Final Thoughts
It’s clear to see that AI is definitely here to stay, and plenty of Indian creatives are already finding clever ways to make AI tools a part of their workflow. Whether by saving time, trying out new ideas, or just creating content faster, AI is undeniably a staple of creative work not only here in India but across the globe today.
Be the first to comment