AI is not your enemy; it’s your co-pilot

Shh… Don’t tell anyone, but everyone is using AI. Despite media critiques of creatives losing out on jobs to generative tools, droves of designers and content creators are already using them – just not how you think they are.

As a result of the increased popularity of several incredibly powerful AI creative tools – such as ChatGPT, Dall-E and Midjourney – over the last few months, many people have expressed concern about the effects the tech could have on creative industries.

Pessimists say that it will be devastating, with businesses opting for cheaper AI-based tools over more expensive and time-consuming human creatives. Optimists, however, say that these tools will augment and support – rather than replace – their human users.

But what’s really going on?

In May 2023, the Pew Research Center found that although 60 percent of US adults are familiar with the most well-known generative AI tool (ChatGPT), only 14 percent had tried it.

When you drill down beyond the general population, though, the data gets even more interesting: 41 percent of marketers say they’re using AI to create personalized consumer experiences, according to Influencer Marketing Hub.

Creatives are part of this growing user base, as Hovhannes Avoyan, founder and CEO of design and editing platform Picsart, can attest to.

“We are generating two million AI-generated images a day,” said Hovhannes, who explained that “almost 70 percent of our users edit their AI-created stuff”.

“So it’s not like you just create and share. Youcreate, you edit, you modify, and you add your own personality, and then you share,” added Hovhannes.

AI cannot replace human creativity

Perhaps it is in this mix that AI has the greatest potential in the creative space – not to take over entirely, but to allow people to create better material for themselves, and to aid people who cannot afford the services of an advertising agency or graphic design firm in the first place.

Hovhannes stated that, for the Picsart team, AI is “not a replacement for human creativity”. It’s “a co-pilot, or an assistant”, helping users to be more productive; to
create and have fun. “Lots of human editing is happening behind the scenes,” Hovhannes added.

If you’re wondering whether you should get on board, the answer should be some degree of yes, said Hovhannes: “People are not going to compete with AI directly; they are going to compete with other people who are using AI.”

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