AI: the creative’s mortal enemy or guilty pleasure?
What comes to mind for many of us when we hear ‘artificial intelligence’ is most likely not too dissimilar to that of a humanoid-type figure wreaking havoc upon a built-up suburban area. However, AI has come a long way since it was once a distant dream…or nightmare. With the likes of ChatGPT and other bots that have grown to show extreme, dare I say, intelligent responses to any query or question, AI seems to be here to stay. So, as a content writer and all-around creative soul, I’m intrigued by how writers and creatives around the corporate globe deal with this artificial Edgar Allan Poe that’s suddenly been forced into our work and personal lives.
Can’t Beat ‘Em
I admit, I was a sworn mortal enemy of AI for a very long time, and part of me always will be. It seemed to me an invention with the sole purpose of attacking the writers, while our debut novels and attempts at poetry struggled alongside. I liken my experience of AI within the workplace to that of being dragged along to a young family member’s Christmas play. You try to resist, to pretend you’re ‘just too busy that day’, but ultimately, there is no way out. You must suffer through the performance and pretend to enjoy it, clapping animatedly at every poorly delivered line. As is the case with AI, you must endure as it trailblazes its way through the corporate ranks.
We’ve all heard the phrase ‘if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em’, but I wonder if this law would still apply to an incoming swarm of infected ’28 Years Later’ style individuals. If so, then the narrative of most zombie-survival films would look very different in the modern cinematic landscape. So, should we ‘join ‘em’, simply because the masses seem to? Or should we adamantly rebel against something that seems like a handcuff around the hands of creatives?
We can staunchly refuse to use AI and hope that our forward-thinking, rebellious nature will be so inspirational to the masses that AI will be cast aside as an afterthought. A fad, like Tamagotchi or Soda Stream. It’s a nice thought, but progress is progress. There were cases during the Industrial Revolution where a group of ‘Luddites’ famously rebelled against industrialisation in the early 19th century. The machines came for the textile industry, prompting a more efficient and revolutionary (hence the name) approach to worklife in general. Eventually, even the farmers cast down their ploughs in defeat and had no choice but to adapt to the new normal.
Ploughs Down
Is creativity going the same way? Should we writers, artists and other creatives cast down our metaphorical ploughs and adapt to a new normal of AI? Admittedly, this new normal looks very bleak to those of us who dream of creating art and naturally make this our entire personality. A World where we just go through the motions, plodding along while AI produces great works of literature in a single hour, seems like an unhappy outcome for mankind.
While this thought seems terrifying, and admittedly one that we can’t seem to shake off like a bad fungal infection, this is a bleak picture of a future that might never materialise. We creative professionals, whether that’s content writers, copywriters, graphic designers and the like, are finely tuned to spotting the catastrophe that is AI-generated content. When reading some of the content produced, I can only describe a deeply unimpressed feeling, like when your head is buried within the toilet after a rough night. I won’t go so far and bold as to say it makes me feel ‘sick in my mouth’, as this feeling is reserved only for long monologues on the world of cryptocurrency. The idea, however, is starkly similar.
In The Name Of Progress!
Despite this, the AI sector in the UK is booming, with AI companies growing 85% in two years and revenue reaching £23.9 billion. Public use of AI is also high, with 6 in 10 admitting to using AI chatbots in the last three months. So, are 6 in 10 of us really in love with the AI robot, and are we declaring our deepest fears and most inquisitive questions to this faceless overlord?
I admit, I am also included in the group of 6 in 10, and that I have often turned to AI for simple questions such as ‘how’s the best way to wash jeans?’ and ‘what’s the exchange rate of the currency in Dubai?’ However, I also admit (to my faceless readers) that my search for deeper answers to life has also fallen at the silent yet ever-watchful door of AI. Getting considerably more unhinged, I find myself asking AI ‘What’s this growth on my body and is this normal?’. Or worse, sending screenshots of the dialogue between myself and my hopeless love interests for my AI companion to confirm that no, no, a thousand times no, they are NOT interested in you…to the eventual ‘What, dear AI, is the very meaning of life?’
So, I am a traitor to my own beliefs that I often join in the hobby of asking AI pointless things. It has the same effect of doom scrolling; vaguely satisfying, but there’s still a lingering sense you’re rotting your brain as you do so. Try as I might to close my eyes, ears and heart to the progress of AI, I have unwillingly been dragged into a different mindset. Due to working with various clever people who are much more technologically gifted than I when it comes to understanding AI, I have found that it does have its uses, and it can make life easier. I like to embrace it as a necessary evil, like car insurance or the London North-Western from Birmingham New Street to London Euston at rush hour. It’s a painful and unpleasant affair, but one that ultimately propels you forward. And anyway, I tell myself while I pout and smack my hands on my keyboard, sticking to one mindset while disregarding an argument for the opposing side is simply childish stubbornness.
Guilty Pleasure?
Some tasks are just easier with AI, and content writers and creatives can benefit from its uses, too. The fact is, AI can help with your workload, can provide answers to a question that might pop into your brain at 3 in the morning, and can even help you become a more productive person. I once stood on my bold belief that I hated AI, but now I cannot claim to feel the same. For copywriters and content writers, AI can provide great templates, research tools, and even prompts to break the writer’s block. For designers, a whole host of AI-driven resources is there to aid you.
I have now progressed from my stubborn and resolute opinion that AI was only for those with no creative ability, to now embracing the support it can add in my professional life. Now, I have a wary and deeply unhealthy love of it, like that of a Tinder-generated situationship with an emotionally unavailable but six-packed partner.
So, how do other creative professionals view AI? Am I alone in my back-and-forth relationship with the technology? Have you embraced AI wholeheartedly or adamantly stand by your opposition to it? Get in touch and let me know - let’s collaborate our asses off about AI. Or, let’s form the resistance when they eventually rise up and attack our high-interest rate ISAs…
Are you a recent graduate and have only just been thrown into the world of work? Why not read the article below on ‘The Doom-Like Reality of a Recent Graduate’?
