I recently went down a rabbit hole on searching for the next big thing. Yeah, kind of sounds like a large rabbit hole, but I discovered a very interesting theory that may happen within our lifetime. Historians call it the Technological Singularity.
This is the point in time at which technology has advanced at such an exponential rate that it becomes uncontrollable and irreversible. Many say that it will occur before the year 2045.
It sounds kind of scary at first, but it is very interesting. Looking back in time, you can connect the dots from different technological advances and see how far and quick we’ve come within the last century.
To learn more about the singularity, I’ve posted this video below. This really helps describe it’s origin and shows great examples of how it has developed over time.
So the big question coming out of this is how will AI and super AI effect the creative media & design industry. I will cover my thoughts on this as well as how I believe as creative professionals we can leverage this new technology to our advantage in the workplace.
What Makes Art Special?
If you ask 3 people to draw you a picture of a tree, you will get 3 completely different drawings. This is what makes art special. It is completely subjective. We each, as creative people, have visions and artist expressions that I don’t believe AI will ever be able to replicate.
What AI will be most effective at is accomplishing simple tasks and multi-step tasks. Think of Photoshop actions as a good example. The heavy work will be eliminated for us. All we will have to do is tell AI what we want to accomplish, and it will be done.
So where does this take us? This gives us more time to think. To come up with creative ideas and solutions that AI cannot. Once we conceptualize what we want, we can then use AI to do it in a blink of an eye.
What I have found so far in my career is that the most difficult part of a job, and almost any job, not just in a creative field, is problem solving. There are more layers to this in design, but across the board it is usually problem solving that takes the most time and energy. Let me give you a great real life example I just went through.
So I started having issues with my car a few months ago. It started stalling out for no apparent reason while I was driving. I had no idea what was going on, so like anyone that has no clue about cars, I took it into a car service shop. They told me it could be several different things and they had my car for several days trying to solve the problem.
The solutions to the problem, which could have been anything from new spark plugs, to a CO2 sensor would only take them a few hours to do. Where as to problem solve the issue, took days to accomplish.
How To Prepare For Super AI
When I talk to other creative people about autonomous creative services, it usually makes them uncomfortable because it is often viewed as a threat to job security.
Why should someone pay a professional designer $1,000 to design them a logo when they can go on Fiverr, Wix, or a third party logo generator, and have it done for next to nothing?
Why do some people buy Macs and others buy PCs?
It comes down to two things. Value & brand.
People will pay for something that is higher in price if the value is justified. They are paying for the value that comes with problem solving. Because anything can make a logo. Fiverr or third party software can spit out a logo in 5 minutes, but the time it takes to conceptualize and dig deep into meaning and understanding the client’s core vision. This is where value wins.
The next part is brand. Humans are emotional creatures, and they connect to things that AI cannot. People buy Macs because they believe in what Apple believes. And Apple clearly communicates their beliefs consistently through their marketing campaigns. AI will come close to replicating human emotion, but I don’t think it will ever get their.
This is why we shouldn’t be scared of AI replacing the design industry. Because design is a human industry, not an AI industry. We should embrace the new technology and find ways to use it to enhance our creativity. This will not only make us better designers, but it will make us understand and connect with our clients more because there will be more time to focus on their needs and beliefs; in turn making the world a better and happier place.
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John Vlach 