“AI Can’t Make a Silk Purse Out of a Sow’s Ear, but You Can Make a Great Novelty Key Ring”

Image credit: Neeqolah Creative Works via Unsplash

“Computers are useless. They only give you answers.” Picaasso made his pronouncement in ‘68 when computers were in their infancy. Today AI draws on the infinite wisdom of the internet to answer questions with the best of best practice… But it still can’t question the question.

New questions are the foundation of creativity. This struck me a fresh over half term when I took my daughter to a dinosaur exhibition. I had assumed that having died out millions of years ago there wasn’t going to be much new news in dinosaur land. But no… dinosaurs are no longer monochromatic greeny grey monsters of Jurassic Park, they’re now brightly-coloured feathery beasts. Beyond the stunning makeover however, what astonished me was the fact that all these feathers were originally there simply to answer dinosaurs’ need for warmth and to attract a mate. It’s only later that the ‘genius’ of evolution recognised that this decorative, warm coat could be repurposed by asking it to solve the completely different problem of helping dinosaurs to fly.

Broken pottery is useless. Unless you’re a Japanese Kintsugi craftsperson asking for inspiration, in which case you see the beauty of imperfection and repair it with gold. Bubblewrap was a failed wallpaper trend until it answered the question of how to protect parcels. Teflon was a niche element in weapons manufacture until it solved the problem of fried food sticking to the pan. Listerine was a floor cleaner until it kept your mouth fresh. Lucozade helped convalescence until it energised athletes. 

Humans can’t compete with AI’s perfectionist’s obsession to machine learn from the past to optimise the future. Nor should we want to. Too many lazy ads do just that, honing and tweaking what’s gone on before to add to the great sea of blandness in which the industry swims. AI’s gift is that by showing us where we cannot compete, it clarifies where we need to go. We need to harness the creative power of asking new questions… Repurpose old problems into completely new solutions. Make emotional connections between things that are rationally distinct. Challenge conventional wisdom. Embrace weakness to find strength. Find sense in nonsense. AI is the ultimate zigging machine, forcing us to zag harder. It challenges us to imagine a tomorrow that doesn’t mechanically come out of today. At 2050 London we create ‘Positively Bonkers’ brand ideas, because if an idea is not positively bonkers, AI can do it better.