Let us put this debate to rest — creativity and technology are not enemies; they are partners.
At the recent SXSW Australia gathering, advertising industry veteran David Droga said he did not want to “have to choose between the march of technology and the purity of creativity, and only one of them can survive. Creativity needs technology to be real; technology needs creativity to be more relatable and human.”
Love it or hate it, generative AI (GenAI) is probably going to change the world. But creative types all over the world have been at loggerheads with GenAI — and for good reason. Lawsuits abound, alleging companies are stealing copyrighted work without consent or compensation, musicians worry about AI taking their voice, and artists are filing class-action lawsuits against AI imagery generators.
It is not a good look for GenAI. But historically, technology has been shown to stimulate creativity.
In 2013, Pew Research Center found that most arts organisations tended to agree that the internet and social media had “increased engagement”, made art a more participatory experience, and had helped make “arts audiences more diverse”. They also agreed that the internet had “played a major role in broadening the boundaries of what is considered art”.
A lot of things have changed since 2013, but the fact is that technology is simply a tool that people use for creativity. It has also democratised creativity. Where one once had to have a book publisher, manager or go to expensive art schools to become a professional author, singer or artist, now anyone can carve out a space, sometimes very profitably, on the internet. For this we can give thanks to a plethora of writing tools, music software and art platforms — all made possible by the growth of technology.
If the internet and social media increased engagement in 2013, think of how engagement is about to skyrocket now.
According to the Life Trends 2024 survey by Accenture, 42% of respondents are already comfortable using conversational AI to find product recommendations, and 39% are excited about conversational answers instead of standard internet searches. GenAI could potentially give businesses an opportunity to shape a “more relatable, human-like representation of the brand”.
NEED FOR BOUNDARIES
But the relationship between technology and creativity must have boundaries in order to succeed. We have seen this before: a new technology comes along, complicates things, and then creativity thrives. For instance, when drawing tablets emerged, people claimed that digital art wasn’t real art.
In June of last year, the Singaporean bank DBS ignited a fervent debate by harnessing the power of AI art tools during an internal event. On one side, graphic designers voiced apprehensions, particularly about tools like Midjourney potentially utilising artists’ works without consent and threatening their livelihoods. The bank defended the event, underscoring its commitment to familiarising employees with cutting-edge AI technology.
At the end of the day, GenAI is just another tool. But for this tool to work, we need to make sure boundaries are in place. Legal experts have noted potential copyright infringement issues and the lack of disclosure of datasets used by GenAI systems. We need to make sure that it doesn’t steal artists’ work or diminish the job of an artist. This can be done through regulation.
For instance, the European Union proposes that GenAI should have to comply with transparency requirements, such as disclosing that the content was generated by AI, designing the model to prevent it from generating illegal content, and publishing summaries of copyrighted data used for training.
Closer to home, Asean is in the process of formulating governance and ethics guidelines for AI. Analysts anticipate “safeguards” aimed at minimising recognised risks associated with AI.
AI IN THE AD SPACE
Generative AI could make advertising fun again.
How many mediocre ads have you seen this week? A hundred? A good ad is so hard to come by these days, that on the rare occasion that one does emerge, articles get written about it. Many ads for mobile games, fitness apps, investment courses and so on contain zero creativity whatsoever.
The small businesses making these ads aren’t hiring artists and creatives to boost downloads or sales; they’re using whatever resources they have. Ill-equipped with creativity, they just need to push something out onto the internet to get themselves heard. The result? Most of us simply stare impatiently at the countdown before we can skip the ad.
GenAI could potentially change all of that.
As Mr Droga said, we could cut out the mediocrity. The ad space is the perfect medium for this. In a world full of half-baked, low-budget ads, GenAI could rid us of the vapid ads that plague us. It’s a win-win for everyone involved: better ads for small companies, better ads for consumers.
The Accenture Life Trends report agrees. While the mediocrity challenge might get worse as GenAI becomes a bigger player, investing in human creative talents who are keen to break the tried and tested templates is imperative.
Skilled creatives must be involved in the use of GenAI, because at the end of the day, humanity, creativity and tech don’t exist in separate vacuums.
Ultimately, creativity will always involve humans. What we need to do is to create a fair future where the creativity of humans can work together with the transformative nature of tech.
What we need to focus on right now, above all, is regulation, regulation and regulation. Only when we have set just boundaries around this partnership can we flourish from it.
Shawn Balakrishnan is a partner with Penta Group, a consultancy that focuses on fostering better understanding between businesses and their stakeholders.