Singapore Management University and Publicis Groupe Reveal the Winners of Its AI Storytelling Program

A class of Singapore Management University (SMU) undergraduates were recently given a taste of the future creative workplace having successfully completed an AI storytelling workshop co-designed and co-taught by SMU and Publicis Groupe. 

The program involved 45 undergraduates from various disciplines (including business, economics, information systems and social sciences) who were challenged to create a story with a futuristic premise using Chat GPT, Lexica, Eleven Labs and RunwayML: “Set in 2045 (the year of singularity) in Singapore, the protagonist of your story has the goal of preventing AI from taking over the world.”  

From sordid affairs with AI assistants to murderous bots and betrayals, each of their stories redefines what it means to be human post-singularity, bridging the gap between humans and machines. 

In the end, four winning ‘mini-films’ were selected based on their use of AI and the strength of their storytelling. Congratulations to first-place winner Keane Lee, second-place winner Tay Hui Li, and Jeremy Khoo and Adil Koh, who jointly placed third.  

Led by Mark Chong, Associate Professor of Communication Management at SMU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Business, together with Laurent Thevenet, Head of Creative Technology at Publicis Groupe APAC & MEA, the programme prepares students for the future creative workplace, which is being radically transformed by AI. 

“We were amazed at how adept the students are in combining their knowledge of storytelling with AI tools to create engaging mini-films – all within the space of 14 days. So, contrary to the bleak scenarios being painted by some, this experience makes me very optimistic that ChatGPT and other AI tools will herald a golden age of creative storytelling for those who learn how to harness it,” says Chong. 

Thevenet adds: “Rethinking education to create future workers that are able to work with machines is a must. Last year was an evident milestone when the adoption of creative AI tools suddenly grew exponentially. Today, I see most of our teams at Publicis Groupe using AI in one way or another in their day-to-day, it’s becoming the norm. The fact that AI will transform the workplace is evident, so this program is designed to equip students in Singapore with the knowledge that will give them an advantage in the future workplace.”  

The jury panel included Laurent Thevenet; Calvin Soh, a renowned agency leader who was once voted Asia’s top creative and is now founder of One Kind Ideas; and Web3 expert Jean-Francois Thery, Head of Growth at Publicis Singapore.  

SMU student and third-place winner Jeremy Khoo says: “Despite the steep learning curve, this exercise was both engaging and eye-opening. A.I. tools can help anyone and everyone piece together creative, original ideas that would otherwise demand resources or skill to realise – their potential for the future of storytelling is worth getting excited about." 

The SMU-Publicis workshop took place as part of a 13-week SMU-X Course titled ‘Storytelling for Organisations and Brands’ that Associate Professor Chong teaches. Introduced to the SMU curriculum in 2015, all SMU-X courses feature project-based experiential learning where students work in small groups and apply their interdisciplinary knowledge on real-world projects with industry and faculty mentors. In recent years, the University has also started offering SMU-X Overseas (SMU-XO) modules which give students the opportunity to work on projects with overseas organisations. In the current academic year 2022-2023, 64 SMU-X and SMU-XO modules are being offered, with more than 3,000 students partnering with organisations across all sectors.