Since the advent of generative AI there’s been industry-wide rhetoric that AI will supplant human creativity, leading to job losses and influencing the quality of creative output in the advertising realm. This has resulted in numerous studies investigating the nexus between the creative industry and AI.
Based on a survey in 2023, the Insights department of It’s Nice That curated a content series titled Shades of Intelligence. The series offered context about how AI is deployed across the industry, explored the lifecycle of creative projects and unpacked case studies on the use of AI tools for creative pursuits. The research found that 83% of surveyed creatives have incorporated AI in their work. Though this statistic seems significant, when it came to the final product, AI contributed to only 6% of the overall output.
This was rather surprising, given the hysteria and the fear of technological tools substituting people in jobs across various sectors. According to a study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology it is unlikely that AI will have a significant effect on replacing humans in the workplace. The financial investment necessary to replace humans with AI on a large scale would likely be prohibitive. In creative advertising, ideas that deeply resonate with people remain centre, relegating technologies as tools to bring that creativity to life.
Despite the pervasive fear-mongering surrounding AI, the most celebrated creative work at this year’s Lion Cannes Awards continued to be that which was born of human ingenuity. The ability to empathise, understand nuances of human behaviour and craft narratives that resonate deeply are qualities that AI cannot emulate.
I was part of the Digital Craft judging panel at Cannes Lions. Most of the work that featured AI was quite underwhelming. It was great to see the variety of tools used to make ideas happen, but it bothered me. In case film after case film, the tech was being pushed forward: “Look, Look! Look what AI did!”. It was all about “what” was used, and rarely about the “how”. And you might ask, “Well, what is the difference?” The distinction is that AI can produce what it does only when it is centred on creativity that only strategic human intelligence can bring.
The financial investment necessary to replace humans with AI on a large scale would likely be prohibitive.
Once we understand that ideas are the driving force, technology becomes merely a tool to bring the ideas o fruition. The thinking then shifts from “technology being used” to “ideas being brought to life”.
I don’t want to look at an idea and say: “Amazing technology. What did they use it for?” I want to see an idea and ask: “Brilliant, how did they do it?”
The technology should be invisible, a means to an end rather than the end itself. I want to see human intervention at its core and a clear vision for the campaign. I want to admire the commitment to craft, and to savour the transformative result that redefined the boundaries of creativity, left an indelible mark on the world and propelled the industry into the future. AI is a powerful tool, but it should be a servant to human artistry and ingenuity — and that comes from the likes of you and me. Anyone can use a tool; it’s the way we use it that brings true creativity to the fore.
If AI were an individual, it would be a person with no opinion or thought of their own. They would go with the flow, happily sitting on the fence. AI is great at extracting a wide range of thoughts from a large dataset and filtering those through a prompt, but that’s not original thinking.
The idea is always the cornerstone. Whether it’s a rough sketch or an Excel spreadsheet (like in the innovative Spotify Spreadbeats by FCB New York, a campaign entirely coded on an Excel spreadsheet — prepare to be astounded), AI can’t add value without a solid concept.
I don’t know about you, but I have many points left that I’d like to discuss with my fellow creatives. So I encourage you as a creative industry to keep asking yourselves how the amazing array of technology available can be used to make a change in our world. Because when we do, we might achieve just that. AI is just another tool, and we are the centre that makes that tool work.
Jacquie Mullany is the executive creative director at FCB Africa.
The big take-out: AI is a powerful tool, but it should be a servant of human artistry and ingenuity.
Read more:
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.