Why Creatives Shouldn't Worry About AI

Creativity is powered by emotion, not logic. We’re always looking for shortcuts but we should not think that artificial intelligence, or machine learning as it is really, will make better creative output – regardless of whether or not that output is in the form of visual or audio content, a painting on a wall or shoe on a shelf.

 

We don’t need to worry about AI ruining creative because we’re doing a fine job already with just letting data do the driving. Great advertisements that accomplished its brand and creative objectives were not driven by data or a program - was Cadbury’s spot with the gorilla playing the drums to that Phil Collins song determined by analysing data?). 

However, there will be people who will look at this as a way to remove the creative process, the creative problem solving, the pop-culture engineering and the skill of the attention merchants. The pros to using an algorithm, a program, and data would be to inform creative, strategy and media planning. If you’re working on a CPG brand and you could get instant access to sales data by region, cross reference that with media placements then you could target specific creative concepts to that region. AI will be effective for media planning and measurement in creating better efficiencies for where the creative is being placed - getting the right eyeballs and the right time with the right (tailored) message. 

Make me the AI program that creates a better efficiency between media planning and creative. Otherwise all of this talk is just another solution looking for a problem.