Survival Guide for Creatives Part II

Artists and creatives all over the world are confronted with the next existential threat: GEN-AI, with the seemingly endless skills to imitate and therefore replace creative work. If this is true creatives will have to develop techniques to avoid becoming obsolete.

What do human creatives have that AI does not have? Fans.

If you do not have any fans, get some. Here is why:

"I used AI to create a song by Drake feat. The Weeknd," is the comment under a video uploaded to Tiktok in April 'nder the account name "ghostwriter977' - a viral hit with over 10 million views.

OMG! GEN-AI can now make music like Drake and The Weeknd! Yes. But the most important ingredient is Drake and the Weeknd - not their music. Forget about the music. We want to love the artist. A real one. Without mentioning the names of real artists the chances of success for a (relatively shallow) song like this would look quite different.

Herein lies the key to understanding the future of AI in the creative industries: The artist is as much an economic factor as the work itself. Much like Ricola's question 'Who invented it?" the origin of creations will play a crucial role in the future of content creation.

The career of Eminem, the creative phases of Picasso or The Rolling Stones are directly linked to perception and economic success of their work. Van Gogh created a new way of seeing the world in pictures - his suffering is part of his work and part of the fascination. It is therefore a part of the creative product. Artificial intelligence can't offer that, it churns out pictures 'in the style of Van Gogh' after seconds - but can't tell us how it came up with it - and even if we knew: it's something with zeros and ones - uninteresting.

We want to know where our artists come from - and what drives them.

The stories around the creation of paintings by Picasso, the tracks of Timbaland or Christopher Nolan's filmmaking fill social media. They have their own entertainment value.

The process of creation by artificial intelligence has no entertainment value, the 'artist' has no character.

In 1968, science fiction writer Philip K. Dick wrote a short story titled: 'Do androids dream of electric sheep?' The answer is in the title: AI does not dream. In GEN-AI creations there is no genesis, no character we can love or trust.

Top writers of major newspapers and magazines, screenwriters, songwriters, painters and artists are the brands we choose as consumers - if we also learn about them and their creative path. The entertainment and the advertising industry will be successful if they market their creators like the product itself. Any nameless product will not find fans or trust.

Let us talk about advertising: Everybody can use AI software, it will always be relatively cheap. The biggest and the smallest creative advertising agencies can use AI for their work and lose their brand value as a consequence. The USP of the future will be outstanding human creatives. Isn't that good news?

As honorable as the strategy of 'The Economist' magazine may be not to name its authors: This is not a strategy for the future. The authors and their story will decisively determine the value of creative work. It is therefore essential for media companies to retain high-quality creatives - nurture and promote them.

It will also allow for sensible use of AI: Human creatives can use AI to enhance their creative forces, because they will still be able to explain to their fanbase what drives them. We will trust the ‘human creative brands' to use AI within the framework of their creative approach. AI with a trusted ‘human master' will be acceptable. This is what the Hollywood writers have just negotiated and it is a very smart arrangement for both parties.

Here are my recommendations for creative survivalists - wether you are a writer, a musician, an actor or a designer:

Get a large group of fans. How do you do that? Share as much of your creative process, the craftsmanship, the joy and suffering that comes with the creative job. Tell the story of your works. Your fanbase has a lot of power. They want creativity from you. They do not want to replace your work by machine-generated work because they cannot be fans of the machine. The creative process of GEN-AI will always be the same - and never interesting. Sorry, GEN-AI.

A fanbase is the life insurance for your success as an artist.

Speaking of which: Come over to my fanbase.

Have a great day.