Expert Article

No need to fear, AI is here.

How AI is changing the creative industry and, more importantly, why this is a good thing. 

When my dad first sent me a Facebook link to view ‘computer-generated art’ I thought he was bluffing. It was an artwork posted on Opensea, being sold as an NFT for 0.5ETH. That’s worth a whole lot. How, I thought to myself, could something made by a cosmputer be worth so much, and, more importantly, what the f*** am I going to do? As a design major who, essentially, will make a living off of creating content (such as graphics, illustrations, and posters) it is scary to see that artificial intelligence can do exactly that but better. Not long after the NFT gold rush do we see the AI craze. ChatGPT, DALL-E, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion - are all computer programs that generate content from images to whole essays. The possibilities are endless. And while it may seem like this new technology signals the fall of creatives alike -painters, illustrators, graphic designers, and copywriters- I think this new technology actually empowers us. 

AI’s two uses - augmenting content vs creating it

If you weren’t already aware, Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are designed to act and think like humans. These systems are capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and language translation. AI is already all around us, being used in computers, self-driving cars, virtual personal assistants, and intelligent recommendation systems. AI is used across fields - in medicine, finance, and the military - and is now driven by advances in machine learning and deep learning. These operations allow systems to learn from and make predictions based on large amounts of data like we see now through familiar Ai software ChatGPT and DALL-E. 

For the purpose of this article, it is important to understand the two main categories of the AI we use today: AI that augments results and AI that creates results. When AI is used to augment results, it works in collaboration with humans to improve the quality of outcomes. For example, AI-powered tools can assist medical professionals in analyzing medical images and making recommendations based on patterns and trends it recognizes. In this case, AI acts as a support system, and the final decision-making authority rests in our hands. Conversely, when AI creates results, it operates independently from human intervention. For example, a machine learning algorithm (like ChatGPT) generates news articles based on a given set of parameters. In this case, AI is capable of taking decisions and producing results on its own, without the need for human intervention. 

AI’s creative bone

We know about AI’s general ability to produce content. You probably use it to write Instagram captions, short essays for class, create fun photos and merge your face onto fictional characters. But these things are only scratching the surface of the services AI provides to the creative industry. First, it’s ability to generate content. NLP systems (Natural Language Processing AI systems) assist writers, journalists, and content creators in generating articles, stories, and social media posts NLP (Natural Language Processing) AI can be used to assist graphic designers in creating layouts and designs for websites, logos and other visual materials, automating parts of the design process to make it fast and more efficient. Machine Learning AI systems can be used in music and sound design to generate original music, sound effects, and new compositions. Through Computer Vision systems, AI can aid video production, AI can be used to generate animations and special effects, as well as assist in the editing process. Even in marketing and advertising, Chatbots (like ChatGpt) and Recommendation Systems can be used to analyze consumer data and create targeted marketing campaigns, used to optimize website and social media content for search engines. GANs (Generative Adversarial Networks) like DALL-E create original content in various forms like images, music, and text. 

AI can seemingly do it all. This is why we creatives are scared of losing our jobs. AI can make tasks automated and speed up various tasks that take humans days longer. Alongside increased efficiency, by automating certain tasks an AI system can improve the overall quality of products and services. ChatGPT can generate high-quality text content in a fraction of the time it would take a human, while DALL-E can create original images that would otherwise be difficult or time-consuming to produce. AI systems also decrease the need for human labor and result in massive cost savings for businesses. While it may seem more beneficial for businesses to look toward AI to conduct their creative services, it’s important to focus on ways that AI cannot replace people. 

First of all, AI produces content of reduced quality. AI-generated content, such as text or images, may not be of the same quality as content produced by human creatives. This could lead to a decline in the quality of products and services in the creative industry, affecting consumer trust and the overall reputation of the industry. At the surface level, it may be able to produce copywriting for social media posts, but it is doubtful that Ai can produce captions as compelling as a human copywriter can. AI content also lacks the originality associated with human creativity. This could result in a homogenization of products and services, making it more difficult for creative professionals to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Additionally, AI systems including ChatGPT and DALL-E, are trained on existing data and may contain biases based on that data. This could result in the generation of biased or unfair content, which could have a negative impact on consumers and the overall reputation of the creative industry. Finally, the use of AI in the creative industry raises a number of legal and ethical issues, such as the ownership of AI-generated content and the responsibility for the content generated by these systems.

AI is evidently revolutionizing the creative industry, offering new tools and efficiencies for professionals. However, it is important to note that AI should be seen as a tool to assist and enhance the creative process, rather than replace human creativity and intuition. AI can be leveraged to help speed up the creative process and to further help produce content with efficiency while sustaining the quality of human creativity. 

Works Cited 

Advertising Week. “Machine Marketing: How Ai Will Shape the Future of Creativity.” Advertising Week, 31 Jan. 2023, https://advertisingweek.com/machine-marketing-how-ai-will-shape-the-future-of-creativity/. 

 Xu, Olivia. “Ai Art Is Transforming the Creative Industry.” Medium, QMIND Technology Review, 8 Nov. 2022, https://medium.com/qmind-ai/ai-art-is-transforming-the-creative-industry-b7f7b9e56b12. 

Anantrasirichai, Nantheera, and David Bull. “Artificial Intelligence in the Creative Industries: A Review - Artificial Intelligence Review.” SpringerLink, Springer Netherlands, 2 July 2021, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10462-021-10039-7.