Info minister notes ‘employment issues’ in advertising sector due to AI adoption

ISLAMABAD, DEC 18 /DNA/: Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Thursday acknowledged ‘employment issues’ among creatives within the advertising sector due to the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) tools and invited proposals to address the problem.

In a post on X, the minister wrote that widespread AI adoption is affecting the employment of creative minds in the sector, specifically referring to content creators, graphic designers and editors, creative directors, actors and models and technicians and cameramen.

“I am inviting proposals on how to address this problem and how to save these professions from becoming redundant,” Tarar wrote, urging people to send proposals to an email address linked to the Press Information Department.

An International Labour Organisation (ILO) report published in May found that around “one in four workers across the world are in an occupation with some degree of exposure” to generative AI models’ capabilities.

“Few jobs are currently at high risk of full automation,” the ILO added.

In November, polling firm Ipsos asked 9,000 people to listen to two clips of AI-generated music and one of human-made music in a survey conducted for France-based streaming platform Deezer.

“Ninety-seven per cent could not distinguish between music entirely generated by AI and human-created music,” said Deezer. The platform added that more than half of the respondents to its survey felt uncomfortable at not being able to tell the difference.

Pollsters also asked broader questions about the impact of AI, with 51 per cent saying the technology would lead to more low-quality music on streaming platforms and almost two-thirds believing it would lead to a loss of creativity.