‘AI will reward media companies that evolve fastest’

KUALA LUMPUR: According to entrepreneur Timothy Tiah, the reason Free Malaysia Today (FMT) continues to thrive is simple – it recognised changing consumer habits and adapted before many of its competitors did.

“You are doing well because you evolved very quickly. You saw short-form video coming in for news, narrative, explainers, and then you dived into that,” he told FMT in a recent interview.

“Whereas everyone else was slow. In fact, many of them still don’t do it.”

Tiah, 42, has spent much of his career building businesses around changing consumer behaviour. As the founder of Nuffnang, he has witnessed the major shifts in the landscape, from the rise of blogging and social media to the AI revolution.

Today, as artificial intelligence reshapes industries around the world, he believes the media are standing at a pivotal moment.

“I do think AI is going to change everything for media companies,” he said.

Contrary to the gloomy narrative surrounding the industry, however, Tiah does not think the biggest challenge is declining audiences or shrinking revenues.

Instead, he sees a technology that could fundamentally alter how content is produced. “Because of AI, your cost of creating content is going to plummet, if it hasn’t already.”

Tiah, who now runs coworking brands Colony and Jerry, is also a content creator who speaks on politics and current issues.

“What I do now, churning out four pieces of content a day, I have no team. It’s just me and some freelancers. This would have been impossible before AI,” he said.

“I can’t be doing content research and everything in one go, but AI does it. It will really collapse the cost of content creation.”

Yet he is quick to point out that cheaper content creation does not automatically guarantee success.

As AI lowers the barriers to entry, more people will be able to create content than ever before. The challenge will be standing out in an increasingly crowded landscape.

“I use a lot of AI, but why is it that no one else can replicate my results? It’s because there is a certain technique and skill in using AI, in coming up with a script, a hook and all that.”

In Tiah’s view, those that are willing to experiment will be the ones to pull ahead. “The key is how well an organisation embraces AI and how well they do it,” he said.

For media companies wondering what comes next, Tiah’s advice is simple: adapt quickly, learn continuously, and treat AI not as a threat but a tool.

“The winners will know how to do it, and I think the margins will grow very significantly.”