Creativity is a human sport

So can AI and Creativity be friends?

The biggest word in the business world right now (aside from Tarrifs!) is AI. The message is loud and clear - its here to help, save time and save cost.

I love the idea of a helping hand. Anything to make my list a little shorter and my work a little sharper. What bothers me is outsourcing creativity - as I feel quite deeply that this is a holy grail that needs to remain untouched by robots - it needs to remain inherently human - in order to achieve connection with other humans.

This week my team and I did some work using AI -not creative work - data heavy work - and it was a godsend! My team will confirm that I started getting teary eyed when the reports starting filling up our shared screen. AI’s capability to distill heavy layers of data into succinct summaries and action points feel almost like magic. It’s work you used to have to pay specialists and consultants hundreds of thousands of dollars for - and now its all there - in all its eye opening glory - within seconds on your computer screen.

Of course there is a requirement to run a sense check past anything AI spits out at you - after all, it isn’t to know the nuances and intricacies of your particular situation. BUT, it was pretty friggin helpful! I’m learning that AI is my friend.

How do I feel about handing over creative tasks to AI - not as friendly. As a bit of a test, I put the topic of this substack into AI and fed it my entire substack history so it knows my style of writing etc. What came back was dry and yawn inducing.

What also bothers me is - that even if had produced a piece of incredible prose - how would I feel feeding you guys robot written thoughts? Not good. The human element can absolutely never be replaced - its undeniably recognisable. We know when we’re speaking to a human and we’re speaking to a bot.

When it comes to creative work, to call on AI as a collaborator, to help with research, or teach us new skills - this I can get behind. I’m open to having my boundaries pushed creatively and if AI can make suggestions that point me in the right direction - Im all in.

But inherently, creativity is a human sport - based on a persons experiences, cultural contexts, feelings, thoughts and dreams. It’s why creativity touches others and brings people together. Our human-ness and subjectivity is what bring meaning into our creations and ultimately inform human artistry.

So long as I’m talking and sharing with humans, it’ll be me doing the creative.