Creativity in the age of AI: Rise of the cultural curator
This article is authored by Aditi Srivastava, president, Pearl Academy.
Earlier this year, a short film that went viral on social media sparked heated debate. The reason wasn’t its storyline, but the revelation that most of its visuals had been generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI). A few weeks later, the Indian government announced that it was considering mandatory labelling of AI-generated content, a move to protect audiences from misinformation and preserve artistic integrity.
These two moments capture the crossroads we stand at: a world where creativity and computation are inseparable, and where the role of the human creator is being rapidly redefined.
AI has not replaced creativity; it has reframed it. The act of creation now extends beyond drawing, composing, or designing, it includes prompting, curating, and contextualising. The next generation of creative professionals will not merely make things; they will make meaning out of machine-made outputs. And that shift calls for a radical rethinking of how we teach, learn, and lead in the creative economy.
For decades, creative education has focused on the craft of mastering tools, perfecting technique, and expressing individuality. But in the age of generative AI, where anyone can produce thousands of designs or images with a single prompt, discernment becomes the new superpower.
We need AI curators, individuals capable of auditing, contextualising, and governing AI-generated work so that its cultural, ethical, and creative integrity remain intact. This is not just an artistic concern. It’s a societal one.
When fashion campaigns, advertisements, or films use AI to alter faces, bodies, or voices, the question isn’t only about aesthetics, it’s about authenticity, consent, and provenance. Who decides what is “real” in a world of infinite synthetic possibilities? The responsibility to answer that will increasingly fall on creative professionals, and, therefore, on the institutions that shape them.
If creativity is changing, education must change with it. The next leap in learning won’t come from teaching more software or coding languages. It will come from teaching context on how to think about technology critically and ethically.
Students must learn to treat AI not as a shortcut, but as a collaborator to interrogate its biases, question its sources, and use it responsibly. This calls for a new kind of literacy: Part ethical, part analytical, and part aesthetic.
Educators, too, must evolve. They can no longer stand apart as distant authorities. They must become co-learners, exploring the promises and pitfalls of AI alongside their students. Classrooms must become creative labs - spaces for experimentation, reflection, and responsible innovation.
The creative economy is one of India’s most dynamic growth engines, employing millions across design, fashion, communication, and digital arts. But if we fail to equip young professionals with the ability to navigate AI’s ethical and cultural implications, we risk widening the gap between technological progress and human understanding.
The government’s recent emphasis on AI transparency and content labelling is a timely step in the right direction. Yet regulation alone cannot safeguard culture or creativity. That responsibility must begin in the classroom, by nurturing graduates who understand that innovation without integrity is ultimately unsustainable.
To thrive in this blended future, technical skill or even emotional intelligence won’t be enough. What we now need is creative intelligence, the ability to connect disciplines, translate technology into culture, and balance innovation with empathy.
As a generation raised on both algorithms and artistry, today’s learners have the chance to define what creativity means in the AI era. The question is not whether machines can create, they already can, but whether humans can curate, contextualise, and care enough to ensure that creation still carries meaning.
Because the future of learning, and of work, will not be defined by how well we use AI, but by how wisely we blend with it.
This article is authored by Aditi Srivastava, president, Pearl Academy.
