On Generative AI and Creativity
I’m not here to plant a flag in either camp. I’m not pro-AI or anti-AI. I’m both thrilled by its potential and worried about its costs.
And honestly? The discourse around generative AI in the creative world is exhausting.
On one side, you’ve got the purists who think typing into ChatGPT once is equivalent to selling your soul. On the other side, you’ve got the futurists who would gladly automate every aspect of their lives — breathing, thinking, maybe even living.
Neither camp makes much sense to me.
AI Is Just a Tool
Generative AI is — for now — a tool. Maybe an overhyped one, but still just a tool.
In creative industries, tools change all the time. I’m sure the last generation of mechanical hand-set typography artists railed against the rise of computer typesetting in the 1960s. Every innovation has its adopters and its holdouts. AI will follow the same trajectory, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
If you want to keep AI out of your creative process completely? Fine.
If you want to use it to speed up one stage so you can focus on another? Also fine.
If you want to run it end-to-end and turn the entire pipeline into an AI-assisted workflow? Go for it.
As long as the work is phenomenally yours and the process is thoughtful, the tool is secondary. Creativity is still human — the tool just changes how we get there.
But That Doesn’t Mean It’s Innocent
Let’s not pretend AI came into the world clean. It didn’t.
When the LLM arms race began, most companies built their models on internet-wide scraping — which just so happened to include people’s copyrighted work. That’s not “open content.” That’s stolen art.
And then there’s the environmental cost. The AI boom has turned into a land grab for compute power. Data centers are popping up everywhere, often cutting corners with dirty generators that dump methane into the atmosphere, just to meet demand. The more we use these models, the more power they eat — and right now, a lot of that power is coming from the wrong places.
So yes: AI can increase personal and business leverage. But at what cost?
The Responsibility Is Ours
We need to use every lever we have to push for accountability. Not because AI is inherently evil — but because the companies building it won’t self-regulate unless they’re forced to.
Some baseline requirements seem obvious:
Artists should have the option to refuse their work being fed into a model — or at least be compensated for it.
New data centers should be required to offset emissions or source their energy from renewables.
Transparency around training data and energy usage should be the norm, not a PR stunt.
These are not comprehensive solutions, but they’re a starting point. And they’re urgent.
There’s Hope
The outlook isn’t all bleak. Organizations like Partnership on AI are doing meaningful work around inclusive research, media integrity, fairness, transparency, and accountability. Supporting efforts like these is one way to make sure we don’t let the AI boom drive society straight off a cliff.
Final Word
AI is a double-edged sword. It’s thrilling. It’s dangerous. It’s overhyped. It’s inevitable. The only thing that really matters is how we, as humans, choose to use it — and how much pressure we apply to make sure the companies building it do better.
If you’re concerned about ethics in AI for your creative team, let’s talk. This has been a research passion of mine since generative AI went mainstream — and I’d love to dig into how your team can navigate it thoughtfully.