[Namsan Stroll] Can AI Become the Alchemist of Content?

Creative Leap and Ethical Responsibility Required
"The Philosopher's Stone" Still Belongs to Humans

"Thanks to AI, anyone can become a storyteller." This was a remark made by Dwayne Ko, Head of AI at LeonardoAI, during the CES 2026 Digital Hollywood Leadership Session.

AI is no longer just a subject of experimentation. Commercial projects fully utilizing AI have emerged, such as the feature film "Junggan-gye" and the animated title "Cat Biggie". AI now appears in many forms: game NPCs that converse and act autonomously based on contextual information, video versions featuring only a single character, translation and dubbing technology that lowers language barriers and syncs lip movements, and more. AI can also predict the potential success of new releases and help protect copyrights by detecting and tracking illegally distributed content.

Changes in workflow are drastically lowering the hurdles of production cost, time, and the required skill or expertise of production staff. Localization and repurposing, which allow for market and business expansion, are now much easier. Interactive, non-linear content is also expected to become more prevalent.

But to what extent is the content industry actually utilizing AI? According to a survey by the Korea Creative Content Agency targeting content businesses, the utilization rate of generative AI as of the first half of 2025 was 20%. When compared to a similar period's survey by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, which found an AI utilization rate of 37.1% among general companies, this figure does not seem particularly high. This is likely due to the emphasis on the uniqueness of creation within the industry. However, considering that the utilization rate in the second half of 2024 was 12.9%, it is notable that there has been a rapid increase within just six months.

Separate from companies, the use of AI among industry workers is even higher. In the gaming sector, 72% of professionals reported using AI, with high utilization rates across planning, programming, business, and management roles. In broadcast and video, about 37% of workers said they use AI, and it is being widely adopted not only in production but also in idea development and planning phases, including by writers.

Surveys of creators in eight countries, including Korea, also show that general creators are actively using AI. Over 80% of respondents said they use AI as a daily tool and are considering AI agents that learn their unique creative styles, demonstrating a highly proactive attitude.

Efforts to link AI content with innovation are underway worldwide. Even the European Union, which has established a strong regulatory framework for AI, is supporting projects that connect AI technology with creative industry capacity-building through its "Horizon Europe" program, offering research and business funding. The United Kingdom is supporting AI use in content through programs such as the "Games Fund" and "Bridge AI", and is expanding investment in content R&D clusters like "CoStar" to foster AI-based content innovation. Indonesia has designated the "creative economy," namely the content sector, as one of its five core industries, aligning its AI strategy with its long-term national vision.

Expanding the sustainability and influence of the content industry and promoting creativity-centered innovation through AI is something we must reflect on most deeply. This year, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency will invest a total of 19.8 billion won in AI content production support projects. Support for AI in cultural technology R&D and talent development will also be strengthened. The aim is to ensure that the content industry does not lose its future competitiveness by timely adoption of new technologies and harmonizing creativity with technological capability.

We are living in an era where anyone can create content with AI. Yet, the combination of AI and content is more than just "automation." Through AI, content must become more closely connected with society, the economy, and culture, and offer even richer experiences. For this very reason, AI content requires profound human context, intuition, ethical responsibility, and creative leaps. The "Philosopher's Stone" still belongs to humans.

Song Jin, Head of the Content Industry Policy Research Center at the Korea Creative Content Agency

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.