I’ve been experimenting a lot with AI lately. It’s been supercharging a lot of my creative efforts. I know there’s no shortage of artistic naysayers out there that look down on or frown upon any artist or creator who integrates AI into their workflow – their most common reason being that it’s effectively “stealing” or “cheating” and “you’re not really doing the work.” People who make these stipulations regularly fall into the camp of being either a writer or a visual artist, because they are the most existentially threatened by AI.
Look, I feel your pain. The existential threat to your job is real. It’s there for me too, and I’m a software engineer and writer, at least by time commitment. But your fear is borne from the realization that either you don’t have any real talent or creativity, or you lack the technical expertise to expand your domain and become well-versed in a different tool. You prefer being comfortable in your myopic status quo. In other words, all critiques of AI being used in the creative process boil down to human laziness and lack of imagination. In which case, if you’re an artist criticizing the use of AI instead of experimenting with it, can you really even claim to be an artist?
Yes, I’m being savage and unreasonable. But we gotta fight hardheadedness with hardheadedness, don’t we?
If you’re using a computer at all, then I could use your reasoning against you. Frankly, if you’re doing any kind of digital work and using a computer to aid in the process and make it more efficient, you’re “cheating.” You’re “stealing” the algorithms and “thinking” of the software engineers to make your workflow easier. You use a digital camera? You’re not really a photographer. You paint with a brush? I paint using my blood. Doesn’t that sound ridiculous? Because it is, and so is any reasoning that leads luddites to not use an AI.
Look: if you prefer working with traditional media, writing with pen and paper, painting oil on canvas, and having a more traditional creative process: kudos to you. Absolutely. These are skills, and I hold anyone with these abilities in esteem. Frankly, I think humanity will always hold artists with esteem proportional to their creativity and talent. But the computer is a tool. The internet is a tool. AI is the latest addition to that toolset.
Here are more defenses for why creatives should embrace AI:
AI as an Infinite Source of Inspiration and a Cure for Creative Block
Every artist, regardless of their medium, has stared at a blank canvas, an empty page, or a silent instrument, waiting for a spark of inspiration that refuses to come. AI can be the ultimate cure for this creative block. It can generate a vast array of starting points, from visual concepts and musical motifs to narrative prompts and poetic stanzas. This isn’t about the AI creating the final piece, but rather about it providing the initial push, the unexpected idea that can set a creator on a new and exciting path. Think of it as a brainstorming partner that never tires, offering endless variations and combinations that can break you out of your conventional thinking patterns.
A Tool for Rapid Prototyping and Iteration
The creative process is often one of trial and error. An idea that seems brilliant in your head may not translate well into reality. AI allows for rapid prototyping and iteration, enabling artists to quickly visualize and test out different concepts without investing significant time and resources. A writer can generate multiple plot scenarios, a musician can experiment with various orchestrations, and a designer can produce numerous visual mockups in a fraction of the time it would traditionally take. This accelerated process frees up the artist to focus on refining the best ideas rather than getting bogged down in the initial, often laborious, stages of creation.
Democratizing Creativity and Skill Augmentation
There are countless individuals with incredible creative visions who lack the specific technical skills to bring them to life. A person with a compelling story in their mind might not be a masterful prose stylist. Someone with a unique aesthetic sensibility might not have the years of training required for complex digital illustration. AI can act as a powerful skill augmentation tool, bridging the gap between imagination and execution. It can help with the technical aspects of creation, allowing the artist to focus on the core creative vision. This democratization of creativity means that more diverse voices and ideas can find expression, enriching the artistic landscape for everyone.
Pushing the Boundaries of Artistic Expression
Throughout history, new technologies have consistently opened up new frontiers for artistic expression. The invention of the camera gave rise to photography as an art form. The synthesizer revolutionized music. AI is the next evolutionary step, offering possibilities that were previously unimaginable. Artists can use AI to generate entirely new aesthetics, create interactive and responsive artworks, and explore complex patterns and systems that would be impossible to conceive of through purely human means. By collaborating with AI, artists can push the very definition of what art can be, venturing into uncharted creative territories.
AI as a Collaborator, Not a Replacement
The fear that AI will replace human artists stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of its role in the creative process. The most powerful use of AI is not as an autonomous creator, but as a collaborative partner. The artist provides the vision, the taste, the emotional intelligence, and the critical judgment. The AI provides the computational power, the speed, and the ability to process vast amounts of data. This human-AI symbiosis can lead to a final product that is far greater than the sum of its parts. The artist guides the AI, and in turn, the AI can inspire the artist to think in new ways.
Tools are only ever as good as their wielders, as good as the creativity and knowledge that those wielders possess. If you’re an artist, you shouldn’t be hating or despising AI, refusing to adapt your workflow. If you truly love what you do, you should want to get better at it, to experiment, to constantly try new things, to forever be growing in pursuit of unattainable perfection.
You should want to see how you can leverage AI to supercharge your workflow: to do all the things you wish you could do but never had the time to. You should let your ideas fly, and throw yourself into it. You should see where AI is strong, where it is weak, and how your human ingenuity can combine with it in a powerful symbiosis: a symbiosis in which the AI learns from you inasmuch as you learn from the AI.
In the brief week I have integrated AI completely into my life and workflow, my output has exceeded over a month of work. Maybe even three months of work, considering the amount of time it takes me to effectively learn a new technology stack. My skills and abilities have multiplied, at least on the engineering and writing side of things. My ideas are coming to life. I do not feel throttled by the number of hours in a day or the number of technologies there are to learn. My mind, often sore from its autodidactic habits, overthought, and over-analysis, can finally be freed to iterate rapidly. I can immerse myself in work.
I feel hope.
In the process, I learn rapidly from the AI, I integrate things that I learn experientially, and I improve my sensibilities, to guide the AI to the places where only humans can go.
If you’re an artist complaining about AI, I can guarantee you’re doing art more because it caters to your egoic identity and self-perception about being an artist. More tersely, you’re a bigheaded dolt. You’re not special and neither are your abilities. Have some humility.
Instead, let go. Enjoy the process. Make art. Forget about it.
Live. Die. Breathe.
And use AI.
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