Sufyan Al Hussein at SIBF 2025: Human imagination outshines AI

During his workshop Creative Storytelling in the Age of AI, the Iraqi content creator — who commands hundreds of thousands of followers online walked students through the fundamentals of storytelling: structure, emotion, and narrative value. Using vivid examples, he showed how stories turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.

When meaning becomes value

Al Hussein began with an example that captivated his audience, Michael Jackson’s Thriller jacket, which sold for $1.8 million in 2011 because of the story attached to it. “You can find the same jacket for seventy dollars online,” he said, “but the moment it carries a story, it becomes priceless. Storytelling isn’t just communication. It’s transformation.”

He also discussed the Significant Objects Project, where ordinary items gained enormous value once paired with fictional backstories. “A story is hidden in everything — in music, movies, pictures, even in how we talk to each other,” he explained. “Once you understand the structure, the rise, the conflict, the resolution, you can apply storytelling to anything you create.”

Keeping creativity human

Having lived in the US and Turkey before moving to the UAE five years ago, Al Hussein has built a career blending art and technology. Earlier this year, he competed in the art category of the second Global Prompt Engineering Championship held in the UAE.

When the conversation turned to artificial intelligence, he urged young participants to treat AI as a collaborator, not a creator. “AI doesn’t create — it predicts,” he said. “It helps me connect dots and find facts, but the emotion, the imagination, the spark — that still comes from us. The story must stay human.”

Through live demonstrations, he illustrated how large language models (LLMs) can support brainstorming, research, or creative ideation — but that the heart of every story remains human expression.

Inspiring the next generation

For many young attendees, the workshop was a revelation. “I never knew a simple story could make something ordinary feel priceless,” said Rayan Abdalla, 13, from Egypt. Fellow participant Chris Elie, 13, from Lebanon, added: “It was amazing to see how AI can help but not replace our imagination.”

The session was part of a vibrant programme of workshops, talks, and interactive sessions at this year’s 12-day Sharjah International Book Fair, organised by the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA) under the theme Between You and a Book, which runs until November 16.