While the AI revolution sweeps through industries and boardrooms with promises of efficiency and profit, one sector is looking over its shoulder — and not just because of job losses. A significant 41% of professionals in advertising and marketing are more worried about something less tangible: the potential erosion of creativity. That’s according to the ‘AI: Friend, foe or frenemy” report released by Naukri on World AI Day, which was celebrated yesterday.
This finding places the creative sector in a peculiar quandary. In an industry built on originality, storytelling, and brand expression, the creeping influence of algorithmic solutions is viewed with both curiosity and concern. The fear isn't just of being replaced, but of becoming irrelevant — outpaced by AI-generated ideas that may tick boxes but fail to evoke genuine human insight or emotion.
The report, which collated insights from over 60,000 jobseekers, thousands of job listings, and recruiter surveys, suggests that India’s broader workforce holds a more optimistic view of AI. A notable 86% of Indian jobseekers see AI as a friend rather than a foe. Yet, this optimism is less robust in creative fields, where the tension between human ingenuity and machine efficiency is palpable.
This creative anxiety isn’t unfounded. In sectors like animation and VFX, 54% of professionals worry AI could sap their craft of originality. The concern is similarly echoed in film and music (43%), and in advertising and marketing (41%). Meanwhile, only one in three jobseekers overall fears job loss due to AI — indicating that, for most, the spectre of redundancy is less pressing than the threat to creative autonomy.
Despite these qualms, the market data paints a bullish picture for AI-led employment. From April to June 2025, more than 35,000 AI/ML jobs were posted on Naukri — a 38% year-on-year growth in AI roles in Q1 FY’26. By comparison, non-AI tech jobs grew by just 8% in the same period.
Interestingly, AI job growth is no longer confined to India’s metros. Tier-2 cities like Indore, Coimbatore, Kochi, and Ahmedabad generated over 1,500 AI jobs, challenging the narrative that AI opportunities are the preserve of urban hubs. This geographic spread reflects a democratisation of AI prospects, albeit still largely in tech-dominated sectors.
The payoff for upskilling is clear. Naukri’s data reveals that the median salary for AI-skilled roles is 53% higher than those without AI expertise. Freshers enjoy a 56% salary premium, while senior professionals with 13 to 16 years’ experience can command 32% higher wages if they bring AI skills to the table.
Yet, the question persists: is the creative trade-off worth the financial gains?
The apprehension within creative circles taps into a deeper philosophical debate. Can AI replicate the nuance of human creativity? For now, AI excels at patterns, optimisation, and scaling creative production — but whether it can replace intuition, cultural empathy, or original thought remains contested.
Nonetheless, the report highlights that AI is no longer the domain of IT alone. While the tech sector still accounts for 53% of AI jobs, other industries are catching up. Banking saw a 48% rise in AI roles, while BPO and ITES sectors grew by 39%, despite apprehensions about automation-led displacement. Even traditionally cautious fields like accounting and KPO saw AI hiring grow between 49% and 56%.
“AI-linked roles are growing faster, salaries are higher, and demand is rising across industries — not just in IT. 86% of jobseekers see AI as a friend, not a threat. Freshers remain anxious, but AI job growth for entry-level roles is up +34%, while senior professionals are seeing the biggest salary premiums. The gap is clear: those with AI skills are moving ahead faster than those in traditional tech roles,” said Pawan Goyal, chief business officer, Naukri.com.
Jobseekers, however, are clear about their expectations. The report states that 36% of jobseekers want employers to offer free AI courses, while a third of IT professionals seek hands-on AI project exposure rather than mere theoretical instruction. Sectors like BPO, FMCG, hospitality, retail, and education are also seeing employees clamour for upskilling, indicating that AI literacy is fast becoming a workplace essential.
In the broader cultural discourse, this duality — between opportunity and apprehension — is shaping how industries prepare for the future of work. The creative industries’ scepticism towards AI doesn’t stem from technophobia, but from the risk of creativity being flattened into algorithmic predictability. In sectors where storytelling, cultural relevance, and emotional connection are currency, the role of human originality remains a hard-to-replace asset.
At the same time, the financial incentives for acquiring AI skills are undeniable. Those who can blend creativity with computational tools — or use AI to augment rather than replace their creative intuition — may well emerge as the new elite in advertising and marketing.
As the report concludes, AI is no longer an emerging trend; it is “a present-day force.” But for advertising and marketing leaders, the mandate is clear: embracing AI should not come at the cost of creativity. Instead, the challenge is to harness AI as a co-pilot, amplifying human insight rather than overriding it.
The industry may worry about creativity’s future under the shadow of AI, but the real opportunity lies in redefining what creativity looks like in an AI-enabled world — less about resisting the machine, and more about teaching it to serve human imagination.
