KUCHING: Artificial intelligence (AI) should expand creative possibilities in animation without replacing artists, authorship and craftsmanship.
Industry leaders said AI could reduce production costs and handle repetitive work but the creative direction and identity of a project must remain firmly in human hands.
Hong Kong Digital Entertainment Association chairman Gabriel Pang described AI as an assisting tool that could help animation studios improve efficiency, particularly when completing repetitive production tasks.
“Everybody can use a pencil and everybody can write but not everyone can create a good IP.
“As long as AI remains a tool and the creative lead remains in control, it can help animation studios produce better work,” he said during a panel discussion at the Borneo Animation and Games Festival (BAGFEST) 2026 here on Wednesday (Aug 19).
Singaporean writer, director and producer Ervin Han acknowledged that the rapid introduction of AI had generated fear among artists, which the industry could neither deny nor ignore.
He said studios needed to communicate more carefully with artists instead of simply expecting them to adopt new technology or become prompt writers overnight.
“As long as it expands creative possibilities and expression and does not simply replace people, it can be useful.
“Ultimately, what we have to guard is authorship and craftsmanship and there are no shortcuts to developing artists.”
Han said his studio was using a hybrid of AI-assisted and traditional methods for an animated anthology project while entrusting key artistic decisions to creators with high standards of creative integrity.
He added that studios would inevitably face trade-offs between efficiency and artistic integrity, making the judgment and values of the people controlling the technology especially important.
Nada Holdings representative Lee Hsu said investors would still assess an AI-assisted IP according to its commercial potential but human vision, taste, identity and originality remained decisive.
“For me as an audience, I do not really want to see an IP created entirely by AI because I want to see the human factor within that creation.”
The panellists agreed that AI could become an effective production assistant, provided it remained subordinate to human storytelling and artistic judgment.
