Singapore * 14 Nov 2025 * 10:40
Balancing Speed, Scale, and Soul: Gilly Miller's Vision for Creative AI at 2025 CONTENT INSIGHT
The content industry is entering a high-stakes phase where IP, immersive storytelling, and AI intersect. That context framed 2025 CONTENT INSIGHT, held Nov 6-7 at Hongneung Content Culture Plaza in Seoul and organized by the MCST and the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA). More than 2,000 creators, investors, technologists, and policymakers gathered around one theme: "The New Grammar of the Content Industry: IP × Technology."
On Day 2, Unity's Design Director Gilly Miller delivered one of the most practical talks of the forum: "AI in Creative Workflows: Balancing Speed, Scale, and Soul." The message was simple and sharp-AI can accelerate output, but it only creates value when human judgment leads.
The productivity paradox you're feeling is real
Miller captured the current tension in one line: "We're not producing less work in more time. We're producing more work in the same time." AI speeds up tasks, and expectations rise to match. The saved hour doesn't disappear; it gets filled with more briefs, more versions, more asks.
That's the paradox. You feel faster and behind at the same time. The fix isn't a new tool. It starts with how you think about AI.
Stop treating AI like a tool. Start treating it like an intern.
Most teams prompt AI like a vending machine and accept the first pass. Miller's team got better results by changing the metaphor: "We stopped treating AI like a tool or an agent and we started treating it as a collaborator-more like an intern."
Picture an intern who never sleeps and shows up with 100 ideas every morning. Most are off. Some are gold. Your job is to brief, guide, critique, and iterate. That's where quality emerges.
Same AI. Same project. Different outcomes.
Miller contrasted two teams using the same system. Team A types a short prompt, skims 50 options, picks out of fatigue, calls it a day. Team B briefs with audience, tone, references, and constraints, then art-directs through rounds.
Result: one delivers generic output; the other delivers on-brand work with intent. "It's the same AI, same project, different outcomes." The difference isn't the model. It's the human process wrapped around it.
The hidden 90% of creative work hasn't gone away
Think iceberg. The visible 10% is what the client sees. The hidden 90% is exploration, research, iteration, and refinement. Pre-AI, much of that was manual and slow. Now, AI shifts the weight, but it doesn't remove it.
As Miller put it: "AI doesn't eliminate that 90%. It transforms it." The craft moves from hand to head-less clicking, more curation, narrative, and brand alignment. Time saved in execution gets reinvested in judgment.
Don't automate every repetition
Some repetition trains taste. Miller referenced the "wax on, wax off" lesson for a reason. Certain loops help you build intuition and pattern recognition. You don't cut those blindly.
Practical rule: automate friction that blocks clarity (formatting, resizing, rote cleanup). Keep repetition that sharpens instinct (thumbnailing directions, exploring composition, writing multiple taglines).
Three principles to integrate AI without losing the plot
- Collaborate, don't delegate. Brief with audience, goal, emotion, and constraints before asking for variations. Treat first outputs as rough drafts. Coach it forward. Iteration is where quality shows up.
- Rules before deliverables. Establish guardrails: voice, brand codes, references, must-haves, and no-go zones. Build a prompt library so the team shares the same language. Constraints focus creative energy.
- Iterate the process, not just the work. Review your prompts and workflow weekly. What produced signal? What created noise? Ask the system to ask you better questions-use it to surface blind spots.
Leadership: protect the human soul of the work
Teams aren't just asking how to use image or text models. They're asking, "Will I have a job in two years?" Skipping that conversation kills morale and quality. Address it head on.
- Make space for critique and creative debate.
- Schedule time for deep thinking, not just delivery.
- Normalize experimentation and safe failure.
- Update titles and scopes as skills shift toward direction and judgment.
AI can distract from the human core if you let it. Your job is to protect taste, context, and the ability to break the rules on purpose.
A Monday-morning experiment you can run
- Pick one repetitive workflow (e.g., concept thumbnails, social variations, first-draft mood boards).
- Brief AI like an intern: audience, goal, tone, references, constraints, and examples of "good."
- Generate, critique, and iterate through three rounds.
- Compare vs. your usual process on time, quality, and team energy.
- Share learnings openly-especially what failed and why.
Reminder from Miller: "The first result is always fast and mediocre. Excellence lives in pushing further."
Context that matters
2025 CONTENT INSIGHT reinforced Korea's role as a global content hub, with live and virtual sessions and interpretation in Korean, English, and Japanese. For event context and programs, visit KOCCA.
Want structured practice in briefing and iteration? Explore practical prompts and workflows here: Prompt Engineering.
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