AI is moving fast: are you feeling empowered or overwhelmed?

I guess AI has changed the way I see things.
In some ways, it makes things easier and faster.

In my field — brand design — AI does not do a fully satisfying job. It lacks consistency. That’s actually good news for me, even if my clients seem to like it.

So what’s the solution?
Should I use more AI to satisfy my clients, even if I lose my passion for creating?
Or should I keep trying to educate them?

I hope people will eventually get fed up with AI and turn back to handmade, human-brain-driven solutions.

I still think the best characterization is this (I think it was Leslie Moak Murray who said it):

Typing a prompt doesn’t mean you’re creative, it means you’re a good typist.

Or something to that effect. Either way, that sums it up very well. Now, it may well be that you need some typed element in your image, just to fill out some insignificant corner, and as such it can save time. Emphasis on save time, because you can still do it the old way if you’re any good with Photoshop.

It can defend its place in the toolset as a time saving shortcut. That’s OK. But it can never be “creative”. By definition, AI reuses images that are already out there, and the more often done, the higher the likelihood it will turn up. It produces cliches. It can never invent something entirely new (except maybe people with six and a half fingers or three legs).

I took the position early on that this is something I don’t want to go into. The ethical line is too easy to cross. I’ve never regretted that, and more to the point, I have never, ever, missed it. I manage fine without it.

In light of the current AI hype, it’s important to distinguish AI from AI. In hard sciences, it clearly has a place. In those fields, you want to consolidate existing information, that’s the goal, and AI is very good at that. That’s why most scientists are very enthusiastic. But there’s still a potential of misuse even there.

Ai is a great tool but not creative. And it’s a helper that people need so the work can go much faster. I love AI as a tool to help me in my creative journey. But don’t like when people taking it very seriously as a art creator or a husband or one they can’t live without. It’s just a great tool for professionals in their field. 

AI is definitely a game-changer, allowing us to generate ideas quickly, but it’s the designer’s responsibility to maintain gut feelings and genuine creativity. In Photoshop, AI works like a partner, but our creative touch is still essential.

I honestly don’t know what all the fuss is about.  If you don’t like it, don’t use it.  If you are doing this stuff for a living and ‘still’ don’t like it, get used to being hungry. 

I'm feeling very calm: I'm not touching it 🙃

There is a separation that should always be distinguished between productivity and creativity. AI’s main driving point is productivity. You can certainly get very polished results quickly and that may be all you need for your productivity. From where I see AI being used in industry, this is very attractive for explores of the technology because it’s new and exciting, and for the “I’ll know it when I see it” crowd as they get quickly wowed by high quality visuals and don’t need to think it through further. That might the solution you genuinely need - something quick and fast for your goal to get your point across.

But there still needs a person to oversee, and pull the brakes to have deep, slow thinking on “does this actually make sense”, “What are we actually trying to solve”. It’s easily to get swept up in how fast you can produce and forget things like, your core strategy, abstract thinking, et al. AI does always work best as acting as your local intern to help idea generation, getting tasks done faster etc.

The technology needs to fit in a loop that starts and ends with the human experience. If you simply stop at the AI step, you’re now at high risk of working backwards. You’re now trying to move your goal based on what AI creates vs using AI as a tool to get you to your goal.

I think it’s luddite thinking to shame AI as not a help in the creation/creativity process. (comment not directed at anyone, industry, etc. but a general thought.) But we should set the right expectations on what we are trying to achieve by using it.

​@creative explorer texting something into a prompt and asking AI to generate something is not Creative, you’re not actually creating something, AI is doing the creation, you’re just asking it to do it for you.

AI in Photoshop may be useful for some things, but I personally don’t consider something that AI created should be shown as someone's creation.