The robots are coming. Here to take our ideas, our business... and our client amends.
Appealing as the last in that list might sound, the downfall of humanity may have been exaggerated. The creative human brain isn't redundant. Whisper it, AI could actually help us to do things better.
What is Creative AI?
Artificial intelligence is essentially using computers and machines to mimic the decision-making and problem-solving capabilities of the human mind. Creative AI is AI designed specifically to help with the creative process.
And the truth is that the age of creative AI is already upon us and it's only going to advance - rapidly. As Bill Gates put it, "I watched in awe as they asked GPT, 60 multiple choice questions from the AP Bio exam and it got 59 of them right. I knew I had seen the most important advance in technology since the graphical user interface."
Here are how just five of many creative AI tools already out there could help you:
It's grabbed lots of the headlines and is the most used text-text AI system. Use it for research, to generate content for emails, cover letters, blogs, excel formulas, and to write code.
If you want to generate convincing human sounding audio from text, then the Lovo voice generator is a good place to start.
Midjourney is an AI generator that uses your text prompts to produce detailed images and concepts.
Take it a step further and use your text prompts to create 360° 3D worlds that you can then bring to life.
Want moving image? Runway can create videos based on text inputs. It’s great for concept and mood work.
The future of AI
So we know what it is, and a little bit about how it could help already. But where are we headed? Are the sensationalist headlines about AI running rampant really true?
In this report the Board of Innovation make four interesting predictions:
Almost everything will be AI generated
It will eventually become the norm and the default for generating books, films, products, and interfaces. We'll all learn to be less sceptical and to embrace what AI offers. Unprecedented personalisation across all digital services from education to health, gaming to finance.
AI will be autonomous
Now for the robots... currently AI is mainly interacted with through a screen but in the future the prediction is that AI will be embedded into robots that can move around and interact with us in a 'human' way. Setting them to work cleaning or gardening sounds great, but the more advanced they get the more ethical challenges as a society we'll have to address.
The cost of digital products will plummet
AI assistants are already pretty good at powering code, building and designing front-ends, and hooking them up to back-end databases. As they further develop the cost of software development could fall rapidly.
AI will disrupt knowledge work
Right now AI creativity doesn't get anywhere near human creativity, but that doesn't mean it won't in the end. As the Board of Innovation state it's a disruptive innovation in Clayton Christensen’s classical model. So it will typically start at the low-cost knowledge work like basic content and design and gradually evolve to be able to take on high cost, more involved and more strategic knowledge work.
Embracing AI
There are undoubtedly challenges and risks around AI – problems around inherent bias, copyright infringement, ethics, and the prospect of job losses. But early adopters are already using AI to deliver new innovations, to challenge accepted practice, and to push personalisation. It offers us the chance to move faster, to get more creative options on the table, to test markets in a click of a button, and to automate lots of the leg work. The robots might not be here (yet) but the age of AI definitely is.