AI – The proverbial hot potato
Artificial intelligence. Everyone is talking about it. Some are convinced it is going to replace us all while others argue that it’s useless. Well, what is it? What can it do for us?
Does AI even exist?
First of all, it’s worth noting that there is no such thing as artificial intelligence. There is just advanced logic and complex coding. The machines are not going to rise against the masters any time soon. AI is simply (or actually, not simply at all) a tool that we should all be exploring. It is not an adversary, but rather an extension of the user. It can only perform as well as you are able to instruct it and define your wishes.
When asked about its ability to be creative, ChatGPT (one of the premier AI text generators) explains that it is incapable of creativity or original thought. It also does not have an imagination. It generates text based on all of the available data it has at its disposal. When a machine sounds so much like us, it is difficult to comprehend that there is no real intelligence behind it.
But just because it turns out that AI is not actually smart at all, it doesn’t mean it would be stupid to utilize it for its strengths. It has to be said that what it does, it does damn well. AI is great at generating content, whether it be factual text coming out of ChatGPT or visual inspirations created using Midjourney, Jasper, StarryAI, DALL-E or Stable Diffusion.
Tool for the future
But as said, it is important to distinguish between unique and original – artificial intelligence can create something unique by combining things in a new way (based on your inputs), but it cannot create something completely original. This is why the creative industry has been quick to embrace AI, rather than fight the inevitable change. The added value that we bring to the table is not being threatened or taken away from us. In fact, we have been delivered technological advancements that help us do our job better.
For the time being the AI space is still the stuff of the lawless wild west. It remains to be seen how things like creative rights and the need to distinguish between physical reality and AI generated reality will be settled in the long run. Also, factors such as bias created by the available data and the blurred lines between commercial and impartial content remain. It is still the responsibility of the user commanding and utilizing AI to verify the content and put their creative spin on it.
AI is still in its infancy in many ways. We have to not only give it time to grow and learn, but we have to feed and nurture it. AI is only as good as the data it is being fed. At best AI is like a teenager taking and absorbing everything it’s being told at face value. It is not yet able to apply any genuine critical thought to the data it reads and interprets. We have to apply the same golden rule as we did a few decades ago when the internet arrived… “Just because it says so on your screen, doesn’t automatically mean it’s true.”
Putting it to good use
Just in case you were wondering if it works, I’ll let you in on a secret. Just as an example, one or more of Brandkind’s older newsletter stories have utilized AI-generated content as a basis for the published text. The articles themselves were written by one of our creatives, but probably between 50-75% of the text was generated using AI. We also use AI to generate visual mood boards and examples on a regular basis. The first piece of AI-generated art has even been moved onto our Art Director’s table to serve as the basis for actual client work. But in every case, it is the human touch that is still needed to have the original creative idea and to make the final creative execution.