What AI Is Doing: Redefining Creativity in the Digital Age
The world is changing at an incredible pace, and the adoption of AI is reaching saturation levels. With this in mind, I thought it would be worth discussing this topic.
What AI Is Doing
Let’s start with what AI actually does—or at least my understanding of it. From what I have read and studied, AI, despite its complexity, fundamentally relies on vast amounts of language and data. It processes this information to generate something that appears entirely new.
For example, if you were to input a prompt asking AI to place Donald Trump on a red bear with President Zelensky lying wounded underneath, within seconds, the AI engine would produce a lifelike image based on its interpretation of the scenario. The results are astonishing. Add to this animation capabilities—such as using Midjourney to generate an image, uploading it to Runway, and instructing AI to make Trump smile and wink—and the possibilities expand. You could then incorporate a soundtrack from Audiio that echoes the structure and tone of the Star-Spangled Banner, coupled with a Play.ht-generated voiceover imitating Joe Biden. Within minutes, you would have a hyper-realistic yet controversial video.
This level of power is staggering. AI enables individuals who previously lacked the skills or budget to create professional content, allowing them to do so almost instantly and at little cost. The implications are profound.
Real-World Applications
Despite its potential, AI is far from perfect. As a company that uses AI daily, we frequently encounter its limitations. Constant hallucinations and unpredictable results mean that achieving the desired output can be time-consuming. The more complex the prompt, the more likely the AI is to misinterpret it, leading to further unexpected and often frustrating results.
One of the most common issues we encounter is AI's struggle with human representation. Despite the high level of realism, AI-generated images often fall into the "uncanny valley"—a term coined by Professor Masahiro Mori to describe the eerie sensation people experience when viewing something that looks human but isn't quite right. Typically, this manifests in AI-generated images through unnatural eye expressions that lack life or authenticity.
Currently, AI-generated visuals are most useful for low-cost applications where imperfections are acceptable. However, the speed of AI advancements suggests that it won’t be long before these flaws are ironed out.
The Philosophical View
It’s impossible to discuss AI without addressing its broader implications. While I won’t delve into AI consciousness debates or blockchain security risks, I do want to explore the societal impact.
A question that lingers in my mind is: what happens when AI reaches a level where it can fool anyone, every time?
At present, if I watch a YouTube video of whales swimming freely with divers, I can reasonably assume it is real. However, I now find myself checking the date of videos to confirm authenticity. As AI-generated content becomes indistinguishable from reality, how will this impact trust in digital media?
For years, high-end visual effects were limited to major movie studios with large budgets. Soon, anyone—even a child—will be able to generate hyper-realistic content with a simple prompt. This will flood digital spaces with fabricated content, making platforms like YouTube and social media increasingly unreliable. If everything can be artificially generated, will people stop appreciating genuine skill? Will the concept of truth become obsolete?
Intellectual Property and Ethics
Another major concern is intellectual property (IP). Over the past two decades, large corporations such as Adobe, Microsoft, and Apple have monopolised industries, limiting opportunities for independent professionals. Photographers have been sidelined by high-quality smartphone cameras, retail has been disrupted by Amazon and eBay, and software giants like Adobe dominate the creative sector.
Now, AI threatens to eliminate creative industries entirely. AI-generated art, photography, music, and video are essentially compiled from data extracted—or stolen—from millions of human creators. Despite the ethical implications of this data extraction, governments are accelerating AI development. In the UK, Keir Starmer has even proposed reducing IP laws to allow AI to advance freely, potentially legalising large-scale data theft in the process.
This raises profound questions: Will AI completely devalue artistic skill? Will creativity be reduced to prompt engineering? If everything is automated, what purpose will creative professionals serve in society?
AI vs. Real Creativity: Influence vs. Play
There is, however, a silver lining—for now. AI is brilliant at compiling data, but true creativity involves play and exploration beyond established norms.
AI is trained on large-scale data patterns, meaning it can only generate content based on what already exists. In contrast, real creativity often emerges from small data—the ability to break rules, take risks, and create something unexpected. For example, brands like Orange, EE, and O2 disrupted the telecom industry by defying conventional design norms. These breakthroughs came not from replicating trends but from bold, innovative thinking—something AI simply cannot do.
Even when AI attempts to replicate renowned designers like Stefan Sagmeister, the results feel forced, predictable, and uninspired. No matter how advanced AI becomes, it is fundamentally limited to working with pre-existing data, meaning it will always produce derivative rather than truly original work.
The AI Tools We Use
Currently, we use a range of AI-powered tools:
- Adobe Firefly – Good for minor photography edits but still limited.
- Midjourney – Strong image generation but often produces recognisable AI artifacts.
- Runway – Useful for animations but requires extensive tweaking.
- Play.ht – Excellent for voiceovers but still needs refinement.
- ChatGPT – Great for content structuring but still requires human input for originality.
- Epiphanies Lisa – An emerging tool for intelligent research.
- Pika – Promising for video content but suffers from the uncanny valley effect.
- Visual Electric – A new alternative to Midjourney for image creation.
Final Thoughts
AI is here to stay, and to remain relevant, we must embrace it. However, no true creative professional wants to rely on AI. Humans need purpose, and if AI strips away our ability to create and innovate, we risk societal stagnation.
For now, AI is excellent at producing convincing images and videos, but it cannot create truly original branding. It merely repurposes mass data into familiar forms.
Ironically, as AI-generated content floods the market, authenticity may become the most valuable commodity. Brands that reject AI in favour of human creativity could eventually stand out. Perhaps one day, businesses will proudly advertise that their content is "100% human-made." Only time will tell.
And then finally, despite the possibly slightly negative slant on this post, I do have to say we are genuinely also excited at the same time, AI does still bring many benefits, outside of the health benefits it already brings, it also can and will create more and more exciting and interesting content.
