AI and the Future of Creative Work
What could generative AI mean for creatives?
Word on the street is that generative AI is here to stay. Fanatics say the singularity is quickly approaching. Critics believe it’s the latest in a long line of tech fads that fizzle out fast.
As a team of creative brand strategists, we’ve landed somewhere between curious and cautious—but mainly, we’ve got questions. How should we view tools like ChatGPT or Midjourney? Is AI taking over? Should I trust the robots with my investments or my blog content*? Most of all, what does this mean for creativity moving forward?
The wide world of content generation
In our own experimentation thus far, we’ve seen a huge benefit by using AI to get “unstuck.” Whether we can’t find the right word or we keep using the same visuals, generative AI is helpful to test ideas quickly without losing steam. If you suffer from blank-page paralysis, these programs can give you a jumpstart. At some agencies, it’s treated as another partner for riffing on ideas or getting to the gist of complex work.
These tools speed up the process of content creation. Teams can spend more time developing the best possible ideas, knowing they’ll have far more time to execute them. Things like optimizing content for each platform or recycling annual content like holiday posts become extremely easy with an AI partner.
As we’ve stated in our previous AI-related blog, these programs give people tools to express themselves in ways that were unavailable before. So what’s the downside, and why do creatives seem especially hesitant to welcome our robot friends?
Stable Diffusion’s response to the prompt: “A robot standing in front of an easel, holding a palette in one hand and painting on a canvas with the other, in a hyper-realistic style”
Stability-AI’s response to the prompt: “A robot standing in front of an easel, holding a palette in one hand and painting on a canvas with the other, in a hyper-realistic style”
DeepAI’s response to the prompt: “A robot learning to paint.” (When presented with the original prompt, it said it “detected inappropriate content.”)
The limits of generative AI
It’s easy to assume algorithms make more rational decisions than humans. But AI does not exist in a vacuum. Human biases, conscious or otherwise, are woven throughout these systems. Examples of this are rampant: law enforcement’s use of racist AI risk assessment; Amazon’s sexist recruitment AI; even a British medical school in 1988 using a computer program for admissions led to major issues. (Note that there are already AI startups dedicated to fighting this bias, like X_Stereotype.)
Obviously, people are not much better than AI at addressing our biases. But it’s another reason to remember that AI is not infallible, even as it evolves beyond our imagination. We can’t even get into the ways that generative AI makes spam and disinformation extremely easy to distribute—that would add ten pages to this already long article.
A generative AI wouldn’t necessarily think outside of a creative box the way humans do, unless you know how to prompt it. That’s no issue for skilled designers, but it becomes a problem if we put all our eggs in the AI basket and leave those creative experts behind. As stated in our previous blog: you reap what you sow with these programs, so human creatives will never go out of style.
A danger that comes with any new tech is losing sight of humanity. At Black Sheep, our work is centered around people, and the communities and issues that matter most to them. This work can be supported—not replaced—by tools and automation. This means we have to gut check ourselves and lean on our nuanced experience, no matter what tools we use (spreadsheets, social media, machine learning and otherwise). When companies lose sight of this, it can cheapen their work in the long run.
The human urge to create is valuable, whether we do it for a living or not. As cool as programs like Midjourney and ChatGPT are, there’s no replacement for the journey of expressing yourself in any medium. Creation is not about efficiency, profit, or mass appeal. If you lose the oddities and the sharp edges from what you create, then you are simply the output of a data input.
Generative AI is already changing the way we think about creative work in many industries. It can be a huge benefit—but only if we respect its nuances and our human creativity. But don’t take it from me. I asked ChatGPT directly if they were going to steal my job as a copywriter. Here’s what it told me:
"As an AI language model, I can generate text and language-based content at scale, but I am not capable of stealing your job as a copywriter. While I can produce written content, I am not creative in the way that humans are, nor can I replicate human emotion and empathy. My capabilities are limited to what I have been trained on, and I do not have the ability to come up with new ideas or think outside the box.
Furthermore, the role of a copywriter in advertising goes beyond simply writing text. Copywriters must understand the target audience, create a unique brand voice and tone, and develop creative concepts that resonate with consumers. They work collaboratively with designers, art directors, and creative directors to bring ideas to life, and use their knowledge of marketing and branding to craft effective messaging that drives consumer engagement and sales.
While AI language models like myself can certainly be a valuable tool for copywriters and other content creators, we cannot replace the unique skills and insights that come from human creativity and expertise."
My own personal interpretation of the prompt: “A robot standing in front of an easel, holding a palette in one hand and painting on a canvas with the other.” (Disclaimer: I am not a professional artist, and my pen ran out halfway through.)
*Note: all words written by Alex, a human, except where noted.