5 Reasons Why Human Creatives Are Better than AI
Don Draper would f-ing hate AI. Image from the final episode of “Mad Men,” AMC.
By Katie Ingegneri
AI might be tempting to use as a tool for creative content and marketing work – or, in the more extreme approach, not just as a tool, but as a full replacement for human creatives. The robots make everything look and seem so easy, don’t they? Have the robots do it all: particularly those “difficult” things that human creative professionals do, like writing content, copy, and scripts; designing powerful, artistic imagery; creating effective long- and short-form video content; and all the other pieces needed to advance marketing and brand initiatives. Not to mention, the creative collaboration, discussion, mood board curation, and “messiness” that arise in pursuit of real, impactful work.
All those things that creatives and marketers did until the past few year or two, when a handful of “broligarchs” decided that AI was the future in order to line their own pockets. Now we’re fully in the thick of thousands of marketing, tech, administrative, creative, and countless other jobs being cut from all types of organizations. We are being sold the idea that the machine, the robots, the computer, the “artificial intelligence” (an oxymoron if there ever was one) have somehow learned it all, and can now do it all.
But as any creative can tell you, there is a world of difference between simple execution of work, and work that actually connects. Using AI as a full replacement for human beings will not get you the results you’re hoping for, particularly as backlash grows against the obviousness of soulless, vacant, content-for-the-sake-of-content.
Have you checked the comments section when a brand uses an obviously AI image on Instagram? Did you hear how unimpressed audiences were with the AI-heavy advertising at this year’s Super Bowl?
I don’t know what the future holds for AI: if the many concerns (which I agree with) around environmental impact, data centers, and rising inequality will change the trajectory. Maybe it will be another weird tech fad that we’ll look back on in a few years and laugh (perhaps). I also understand this is a very optimistic possibility for the Terminator-style world AI could also end up creating…but let’s not talk about that right now.
Regardless of what the future holds, as long as we need to create marketing content to connect with audiences and stand out from the crowd, human creativity will always produce the results you’re looking for.
Creativity is not a frictionless experience to be outsourced to an app. If you go that way, expect your results to be just as low-energy, low-investment, and uninspiring as the “work” (or lack thereof) that went into it.
Here are 5 reasons, among many, why human creatives are better than AI.
Human professionals have years of real-world experience
Using my own career as an example, I’ve worked in an array of settings since my professional life began back in 2005 – from retail and large corporations to agencies, nonprofits, and colleges. These experiences taught me countless lessons about brand voice, marketing philosophies, design styles, and what kinds of content resonate with different audiences – not to mention the knowledge I picked up along the way from my expert colleagues, such as my design associates who went to art school.
All this versus the AI robots, whose model of learning is plagiarism and theft, based on content created by humans who did have real-world experiences. The robots cannot build up years of diverse experiences and take that knowledge with them in their next project to create better, more impactful products, which are custom-tailored to specific needs and industries.
Area expertise and education still matter (because smart people make fewer mistakes)
No matter how advanced the robots are, they can’t earn degrees from colleges and universities in subject areas that they studied diligently for years on end. They can’t take important lessons from knowledgeable experts and thought leaders in their field. They also have a tendency to make strange errors and straight-up hallucinate information that doesn’t exist. Would you hire a writer for your brand who made grammatical mistakes and invented their sources? I’m assuming not.
Institutional knowledge is important
Building on my previous point, I’ve worked in contexts where having someone with institutional knowledge on the team meant the difference between releasing work that might lead to public embarrassment and errors, versus creating strategic pieces that took into account any issues, sensitivities, or needs.
For example, a human being would know not to feature a disgraced former executive in materials – a robot would not, if it was just scraping pre-existing content from years when that person was in charge. And beyond scandal, marketing does not exist in a vacuum – it is created specifically to align with a specific institution’s needs and brand style.
Creatives need to be able to talk to other creatives, marketers, and leaders about what has worked in the past and what the vision is for the future, in order to build on it. Without it, it’s just throwing content into a void, hoping that something sticks.
Brand management is more complex than it seems
A key part of a creative’s job in marketing is adherence to brand standards and storytelling; not only visual styles, but language and the flow of communications in the bigger picture of a brand marketing strategy. Content for content’s sake is not enough. And a brand without a strategy or a vision is just a haphazard array of disorganized stuff.
Why should your customer buy from you and not a competitor if other brands are presenting a vision for how their product is the best, alongside their brand values? It’s not enough to just say “buy our product.” Whether through communication of brand values such as diversity and sustainability, or creative design that makes a product stand out from others in a store or online, your brand will not be effectively managed by the bots. It just won’t.
Irreplaceable, uniquely human creativity
If you care about things like industry awards for quality pieces like advertising or print materials – like the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Award my design director and I won for a suite of higher education enrollment materials – the robots ain’t earning those on their own. So why would you waste your time using robots to make soulless work that makes your customers’ eyes glaze over, and offers nothing of distinction?
I would take the boundless expertise, decades of experience, and creative perspective – plus irreplaceable conversations over sushi lunches and unique personality – of the human being, my collaborator who designed those materials, over a robot any day. The robots couldn’t do what she does in a million years, no matter how “advanced” they get. They just reflect mediocrity back to you.
Human creatives are still the way to go if you want to create authentic work that engages effectively with your target audience and advances your brand storytelling. After all, your audience and customers are humans – not robots.