Not Yet Robots: Why AI Employees Aren’t Ousting Human Creativity

When Creativity Still Reigns—Media’s Flooded Era

On August 28, 2025, Bain & Company released a timely insight into media’s shifting landscape, titled “Not Yet, Robots: How to Win in Media’s Flooded Era”  . As AI-generated content proliferates, the piece argues that while Voice AI Agents and other non-human creators are expanding content volume, human-led ingenuity remains the decisive factor in achieving meaningful audience engagement.

Media Everywhere—and Fragmented

Today’s consumers are immersed in a constant stream of media: over 75% of U.S. participants use social media, nearly half socialize while gaming, and nearly two-thirds post about live events—rising to 80% among under-35s  . Moreover, multitasking is the norm—80% of consumers simultaneously engage with multiple media formats (e.g., watching video while scrolling)  . This fragmentation dents attention and ad effectiveness, raising the stakes for media companies to break through the noise.

“Good Enough” Isn’t Good Enough—Yet

AI enables creators—especially indie studios—to produce content quickly and affordably, leading to an overwhelming flood of new media. About 60% of current content creators plan to venture into new formats using AI, surging user-generated content into new depths  . Yet human-guided creations still shine: one example is Japanese writer Rie Kudan, who won acclaim by using generative AI to power character dialogue in her novel, and the YouTube animation series StEvEn & Parker, produced by animators with AI tools, attracts 30 million views weekly  .

Creative Talent Remains the Core

Despite the rise of AI Employee tools, success in media hinges on skillful, human-staffed creativity. Audiences remain skeptical of content wholly generated by AI—70% of readers, 60% of music listeners, and nearly 60% of video viewers prefer human-created media  . Traditional studios must continue investing in talent pipelines, apprenticeship models, and upskilling—because knowing narrative structure, lighting, or character depth can’t be replaced by algorithmic prompts. Moreover, “human-created” is emerging as a promotional advantage, much like “fair trade” has in consumer goods  .

Key Highlights:

• Context: Media inundated with AI-generated content (“Flooded Era”)—yet human creativity endures.
• Media engagement: Pervasive and fragmented, challenging attention strategies.
• AI’s impact: Dramatic rise in content output; tools empowering indie creators and flooding UGC.
• Human advantage: Creativity, talent cultivation, and trusted “human-created” branding stand out.
• Examples: Rie Kudan’s award-winning AI-assisted novel, StEvEn & Parker’s massive reach.
• Consumer preference: Majority still favors content involving humans over fully AI-created media.

Reference:

https://www.bain.com/insights/not-yet-robots-how-to-win-in-medias-flooded-era/