By Neville Timothy Sanders & Nurin Patra
KUCHING: Media players must remain ethical and people-led when adopting artificial intelligence (AI).
Founder and Principal Consultant of TL Insights, Singapore, Shelly Bryant stressed that AI should be treated as a tool, not a leader.
She said this at the Sarawak Media Conference 2025 today.
“We must stop saying AI-led or AI-driven. We should say AI-supported or AI as ally,” she said.
She also warned that language itself carries biases, and since AI is built on language, those biases become embedded and amplified.
She introduced the concept of “situated embodiment”, which explains how AI, unlike humans, is not grounded in real-world experience.
“AI cannot eat laksa in Sarawak or experience hospitality. It cannot feel. Only humans can,” she said.
Despite this, she highlighted AI’s value in content creation when used ethically.
“AI won’t replace storytellers, but those who use it will outperform those who don’t,” she added.
She shared her success on Xiaohongshu, a Chinese platform where she simulated the experience of a non-Chinese speaker using AI tools like ChatGPT, Canva, and SketchWell.
In less than three months, she generated USD15,000 in revenue through bilingual content on language, translation and Chinese gardens.
“I proved that human-led, ethical storytelling supported by AI can work, even across cultures,” she said.
She warned, however, of AI’s risks, including misinformation, hallucinations, and poor translation quality without human oversight.
Bryant recounted a translation error where an AI wrongly inserted the word “scorpion” into a medical text due to unmonitored machine output.
“We can’t afford to let AI think for us. If we do, we’ll have to live with the consequences,” she said.
She called for clearer ethical frameworks built on human values, transparency, and cultural sensitivity in all AI-assisted content.
“AI won’t live in the world it creates. We will. So let’s make sure we’re the ones shaping it,” she stated.
