AI for Creatives: Friend or Foe?

AI for creatives has been considered a threat of some kind. How much truth is in there? How can you leverage AI tools for creatives without killing our jobs? Find out in this article.

Before last year, people mostly found Artificial Intelligence (AI) useful in automating mundane, non-creative tasks. That is until AI tools for creatives such as Midjourney and OpenAI suddenly got a surge in popularity and the number of users.

Providing creative services ourselves, we understand how art generators and content generators can pose a threat to our industry. There was a point when we at Chykalophia, as we’re sure many of you did too, started questioning, “Can AI be creative, really? Are the robots seriously going to take our jobs?”

Along with other AI-related concerns and worries.

Why are people against Artificial Intelligence?

Like any other tool, AI for creatives can be used for good and bad. However, we’ve noticed these five common reasons people are against the tools — both AI tools for creatives and other machine learning software.

  • Fear of job loss
  • Low quality of work
  • Privacy and security concerns
  • Might lower the value of creative work
  • Plagiarism and copyright concerns

But, hey, AI tools are created by fellow humans to help, not threaten us. So, how do you leverage AI tools for your creative scope of work, say graphic design, content writing and copywriting, and art creation?

How to co-create with AI for creatives

Little did we know that AI has been around since the 1950s. It was made to make our work easier, and we have seen how it benefits us in various automation processes — taking the weight of mundane, repetitive tasks off our shoulders.

While it’s true that AI was previously only used for administrative and technical work, there are ways we can use AI for creatives without threatening our source of income. Remember the saying, “If you can’t beat them, join them.” And here are what you can do to co-create with AI for creatives, instead of avoiding it like a plague.

1. Find more inspirations faster

When designer’s block or writer’s block strikes and any Google search you do doesn’t seem to give you satisfying results, you can try asking ChatGPT for help.

Even our content teams talk to ChatGPT and our design team plays around with MidJourney from time to time, treating the software as one of our ideation aids and sources of information. Although, when it comes to finding data and quoting resources, we still find search engines more reliable.

2. Create the first draft

First drafts should never see the light of day and, for that, it is totally plausible to have an ugly first draft — which you can make using AI tools for creatives.

Many LinkedIn users have expressed their concerns about low-quality results from content generators such as ChatGPT, Jasper, or CopyAI. Instead of bashing the software, why not co-create with it? Treat the AI-generated content as the rough first draft and craft it into high-quality work that’s on par with your standard.

3. Get in touch with your artistic soul

Sometimes, working in the digital industry forces us to abandon our artistic soul. Our job titles may pronounce UI/UX ‘designer’, web ‘designer, or graphic ‘designer’, yet most of the time our work needs to be more on the rational side, based on research and data that provides reasons why we create what we create.

Playing around the AI for creatives allows us to revisit our creative and artistic side. Try typing in some prompts on MidJourney or DALL E and see how they turn out. These art generators can also be satisfying for designers who don’t know how to draw, according to our CEO & Head of Strategy, Ari Krzyzek.

4. Have a creative exercise

Did you know that experimenting with AI prompts can be a good exercise for your creative muscles?

You might even surprise yourself with what you can create or ideas you can find when you take the time to put in a well-crafted prompt.

5. Save costs

This one is for startups or small businesses. Before you commit to hiring a creative team, you can try working with AI tools for creatives first. Once you have enough budget and resources to scale up, you can start hiring and AI can be your supporting tool.

So, are AI tools for creatives friends or foes?

There’s a place and time to use AI in your creative process. But most of the time, we humans still need to get the work done — that is, if you want your work to look and sound human, not robotic.

Let’s start co-creating with AI tools for creatives. Make them your weapon to be a powerful designer, writer, artist, or any other creative title you give yourself.

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