AI is here to stay. For creatives, this can be a quantum leap, and a litmus test

This opinion piece is an evolution of the article I wrote for Tatler in September 2022, during my early days of testing AI. The image pairs below are produced using the same prompts 6 months apart, demonstrating the rapid evolution of the AI algorithm, and the ability to control the output with increased precision.

Over the past half year we have witnessed an incredible proliferation of AI-generated images across social media. As the novelty-factor has most definitely worn off by now, it is time to talk about the long-term impact on creative industries.?

Last August, Théatre D’opéra Spatial - a digital art piece generated by Jason Allen using Artificial Intelligence (AI) - won an art competition and promptly set the art world ablaze, splitting the crowd and dragging into the conversation a broad range of voices, from art pundits to AI ethicists. While the aesthetic merit of the outcome can hardly be contested, the tug of war over intellectual authorship versus technical ownership rages on.

This conundrum is not new. In the past, the invention of photography arguably contributed to the evolution of painting from a pursuit of faithful reproduction to one of creative interpretation. Rather than displacing artistic merit, a disruptive new medium could boost it into new directions.?

As an architect and spatial designer, I can’t help but wonder how AI will impact my profession’s future.

Before I elaborate further, I will make a voluntary admission: I am all for using AI.

I started exploring Midjourney as soon as it became broadly available through Discord, and I found myself down the AI rabbit hole within a matter of minutes. Visual communication is essential for designers, and here I was, able to generate with a few lines of text the most unpredictable – if not utterly unlikely – spatial environments.

What could have taken hours or days to draw, model and render mere months ago, now was being generated in front of my eyes in a matter of minutes. It all seemed suspiciously easy.?

This instinctive hesitation to fully embrace AI as the future of design, was a healthy moment of pause as it made way for a more serious examination of my view on the creative process, the role of the designer, and ultimately the legitimacy and value of the creative outcome.

In a world where anyone can generate semi-plausible images, how can we practice discernment? For creatives, this can be a quantum leap, and a litmus test.

What I have learned since, after half a year of testing, and progressively incorporating AI into my every day design process:

1.?????Great images and great design are two different things

Let’s face it: we all spend way more time scrolling our Instagram feed than we would like to admit. With great imagery on tap, we are probably living the most content-rich period in human history. Beauty-fatigue can be real, to the point where we conflate and confuse the visual quality of a picture with the actual merit of the design – whether spatial, functional, environmental, or experiential. Being superficially seduced by one’s own visual follies is a slippery slope that doesn’t invite learning from the outcome with some level of intent and objectivity.

2.?????Great design is all about process

Designers are constantly tempted to chase the providential outcome. Great outcomes, however, are almost always the result of a thorough process.

Developing a critical ability to understand the rational iterative steps involved in formulating, testing and realising a vision is a strength that allows one to challenge and improve the final result. When working with AI, the purposeful testing of prompts is a great way to limit chaotic randomness and stay in control of the creative output. In my Post-Nature series, I have set myself the difficult challenge of describing and re-creating an atmosphere I know and live every day: the hot, wet, thick equatorial weather, and unique qualities of our tropical architecture, interiors and landscape. By setting clear evaluation criteria, I was able to objectively assess my images and work towards improving their ability to tell authentic biophilic stories.

3. Thinking laterally is the only way forward

While a thorough process is important, so is the ability to recognise unanticipated potential and explore it. Over the past decade, Pinterest has become a creative crutch for most designers. “Relevance” algorithms have put the global design scene on a homogenous diet of reference images. Many trends we have seen over the past few years – like arches, or soft pastels – are not accidental.

The AI’s computing power should be able to help us generate original ‘mood’ imagery better and faster than compiling a Pinterest board. Occasionally, a surprise may come along.

In my case, the Construction Couture collection started after a long site visit where I couldn’t help but wonder how construction site clothing – especially in the age of AR and AI – could evolve to embrace new technologies, lighter materials and sustainable fabrics. Would a similar exploratory process allow designers to test, cross-pollinate and learn from other fields? I certainly hope so.

Conclusion

We are without a doubt living the very early days of exploring Artificial Intelligence as a design tool. As AI will get faster and more attuned to input, the human user element will also have to evolve and hone essential skills. If traditionally most designers spend a lot of time operating software and performing repetitive production tasks, once AI looks after that, what will be our next litmus test?

My belief is that conceptual clarity, ability to communicate our ideas and creative agility will once again shine – levelling the design playing field for the up-and-coming, the brave and the articulate voices that may emerge from anywhere at this point.

And this is something truly worth getting excited about.??

Did you read something above that resonates with you? Do you have a great project in mind where these ideas would make a positive difference?

Always keen to hear from like-minded individuals, so don't hesitate to drop me a line or connect.

The ideas expressed above represent my own views and not those of any of the organizations I am affiliated with.