UMN Lecturer Wins International Research Grant from The Carsey-Wolf Center, UC Santa Barbara: Exploring The Impact of AI on Media Workers and The Creative Industry

(Yearry Panji Setianto and team attending the AI and Labor workshop at IAMCR 2025 at NTU, Singapore. Doc. Yearry UMN)

Tangerang, (November 12, 2025) – Recently, Yearry Panji Setianto, a lecturer at the Faculty of Communication Sciences, Universitas Multimedia Nusantara (UMN), successfully secured an international research grant from The Carsey-Wolf Center at UC Santa Barbara. The grant was secured through his research titled “Precarious Futures: Media Labor, Creative Work, and AI in Southeast Asia.”

The research will be co-led by Assistant Professor Pei-Sze Chow from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. In this research, the two aim to explore the impact of artificial intelligence on media and the creative industry through a comparative study in Indonesia and Singapore.

“The main objective of this research is to present empirical data on these impacts and to examine the extent to which the adoption of and resistance to AI has led to new skills and competency requirements among media and creative workers. In addition, we are also interested in examining the extent to which regulations in each country favor workers in dealing with the impacts of technological developments,” Yearry said.

Yearry also shared that the idea for this research arose from a discussion between the two at the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) Annual Conference, held on July 13–17, 2025. During the discussion, they realized that there are still a few empirical studies on the impact of AI on the media industry, especially those that highlight the experiences of workers in Southeast Asia.

“From these discussions, Professor Pei-Sze Chow then invited us to submit a proposal to obtain a competitive grant from the University of California, Santa Barbara, which this year is launching a major initiative titled ‘Media Industries and AI: Critical Research on Emerging Trends. Out of dozens of proposals submitted, 21 researchers from 15 different institutions, spread across 7 countries and 3 continents, were selected,” Yearry added.

Yearry hopes that his success in obtaining this grant can be a starting point for long-term cross-border research collaboration, as well as opening up networking opportunities for more lecturers and researchers.

By Putu Wiena | UMN News Service

English translation by Levina Chrestella Theodora

Kuliah di Jakarta untuk jurusan program studi Informatika| Sistem Informasi | Teknik Komputer | Teknik Elektro | Teknik Fisika | Akuntansi | Manajemen| Komunikasi Strategis | Jurnalistik | Desain Komunikasi Visual | Film dan Animasi | Arsitektur | D3 Perhotelan , di Universitas Multimedia Nusantara.