Antagonist of Creatives: The AI Elephant

Oh no, not another article about AI! But really, we need to talk about it. AI is the elephant in the creative room. 

 

Advancements in AI are fast moving, and the technology morphs each day stretching into new realms and possibilities. Including text, image, audio, code, chatbots, video, search, gaming, data, it would seem there is AI to do just about everything. 

 

But, if it is as easy as writing down what you want and inputting this into your device for a viable idea to be churned out, then surely this must be the time and cost-efficient method of the future, enabling even the most uncreative people to produce something worthwhile.  And by association, the need for any creative services becomes obsolete. Surely, it’s not that simple? 

 

The first fundamental issue we see with this hypothesis is that AI is only as good as the information that is fed into it. An obvious fault when getting a clear and definitive brief from clients can often be something of a rarity. In most cases, this is due to the complex and nuanced problems clients come to us with. Knowing what you want and what your business needs is often an impossible task. Part of our job as a creative marketing agency is to fill in the gaps, view problems objectively and provide novel solutions out with the realms of what our clients may have imagined themselves. Thus, the ability to predict and anticipate clients’ needs is a capability that is fundamental to our services and one that AI will never master. 

 

Secondly, we are questioning whether AI can deliver creative solutions that are impactful. Our doubts arise due to the fact that emotion is such a fundamental aspect in creating content that resonates with consumers, a function that AI lacks. One of the most popular and successful marketing strategies is nostalgia. A widely recognised powerful strategy, particularly effective in times of uncertainty, nostalgia remains a profoundly successful tool and one that consumers continually have an appetite for in 2023. For example, nostalgia has been the key to success of many recent Netflix series, notably nostalgia-fest Stranger Things, which is set in the 80s and became the most-watched Netflix English-language series in its first 28 days on the platform. This retro-wave continues to permeate across pop-culture, and we see 80s inspired products and marketing campaigns continually being utilised. We are questioning whether contemporary technology such as AI will ever be able to understand and apply strategies such as nostalgia marketing which exist out with their current context and are tied so closely to emotions. Will modern technology ever harness  the ability to use emotions in their calculations, delivering solutions that play on concepts that resonate so strongly with consumer? We’re not confident. 

 

Similarly, AI lacks a number of other idiosyncrasies, such as humour and irony, fundamental to many successful campaigns. For example, one campaign which we have seen go viral across our social channels, is from American cereal company, SURREAL. SURREAL cleverly used the namesakes of famous sports personalities to endorse their brand, with the caveat that “Dwayne Johnson is a bus driver from London”, written underneath the quote. This brilliant campaign plays on irony and humour and is more cost-effective strategy than using the real people whilst delivering the same, if not more impactful results and associations. This clever play on names and witty comment pieces, are all things for which current AI technology could never replicate or produce since it relies heavily on the consumers own contextual and cultural knowledge for its success, owing to the genius of the campaign.  

 

Perhaps technology and the arts have always had difficulties when trying to come together. Where one optimizes and streamlines, the other is boundless. Where one relies on existing data and replicating, the other relies on emotions and influences, striving always to be contemporary. From Nick Cave’s sharp letter responding to a ChatGPT song written in his signature style, to Ryan Reynolds parody of a ChatGPT attempt to make an ad for his company, to David Guetta adding the “voice” of Eminem to one of his songs, it is clear that opinions about AI and its uses are varied.

 

There are many issues with AI and as with every new technology, it is continually being developed, adapted, and improved. However, we are of the opinion that it is AI’s inability to have out-of-the-box thinking that reassures us to the fact that we will not need to find a new day job anytime soon. By viewing AI from a creator-centric perspective, we can understand how AI can work in conjunction and actually benefit creatives, not replace them. Our view is that discussions of AI must transition from one of fear and uncertainty to instead one of curiosity, to embracing the new possibilities enabled by this contemporary technology and adding it to our designer’s toolbox.

 

AI will inevitably change the way we run companies and serve customers but to draw any meaningful conclusions about whether AI is making (or will make) the role of creatives obsolete would be superficial. A complex and nuanced topic, but it is clear - AI is here to stay, so are we, and nothing beats a good creative idea!