Creatives and AI—why the human touch is irreplaceable

Last year was the time for mass generative AI experimentation, while 2024 is the year of mass generative AI application. For some, it’s been a big shift—we’re moving from a world where we used technology to make something to a world where we’re collaborating with technology to create something. We’re finding ways to work with our new AI partners: to brainstorm, to reflect, to iterate and ultimately to create. As we roll into 2024, understanding the role of generative AI is key: AI content is not an output. There’s no world in which our best work comes from simply pushing a button and pasting the result into a deck. Rather, AI is a powerful input, one that can help us find our best work at every stage of the creative process. Amplification, not replacement AI is not replacing you. The creative spark that has made you “you” throughout your career is irreplaceable, after all. Think of AI as your giant Marshall amplifier. It’s there for you to plug into and riff off of your ideas, providing a sandbox of possibilities that you might not have considered, and always ready to turn any of them up to 11 with the flip of a switch. See all of Ad Age’s 2024 Creativity Award winners here This isn’t about AI taking the lead; it’s about using AI to explore the weird little corners of your ideas. It’s about turning all of your what-ifs into a dozen different creative paths to follow. Imagine briefing your AI tool on your campaign goals and target audience, and it throws back at you a range of concepts, headlines or even visual ideas. Personalization Personalization isn’t new. One-to-one marketing has been buzzing since well before ChatGPT blinked itself awake in late 2022. But AI is opening paths for us to get closer to true 1:1, crafting messages that take our customer’s context seriously and that resonate on a deeply personal level. But here’s the catch: It’s the insights and parameters we feed into AI that enable this magic. Our experience, our moments of sheer blinding genius, our personal pizzazz all go into guiding our AI partners. The output it returns? It’s on us to take it for what it is. It’s on us to ensure it aligns with our brand voice and ethics. AI can suggest a hundred ways to say “I get you” to your audience, but crafting the right way to say it? That’s where the human touch is irreplaceable. Where your human touch is irreplaceable. The efficiency game Let’s be real—time is a luxury, and AI is a time machine. It quickly handles the grunt work, from data analysis to content generation, allowing us to focus on strategy and storytelling. But efficiency doesn’t mean cutting out creativity. Instead, AI provides us with a starting point, a rough draft that we can polish, tweak and elevate. It’s about using AI to do more of what we love, full stop. Writers can be writers instead of typists. Designers can craft instead of push pixels. Strategists can think instead of compile. Navigating ethics We’ve avoided cliches up to this point but it’s time to trot one out. With great power comes great responsibility. Yes, AI can crunch data and churn out content at an unprecedented scale, but it’s on us to use it responsibly. Maintaining consumer trust means ensuring our uses of AI are transparent, ethical and, above all, human-centric. It’s a delicate balance, and it’s on all of us to stay informed and keep ourselves on the right side of history as we roll ever further into the future. The future of marketing with AI is bright, but let’s remember: AI is just one of the tools in our arsenal. Our role as marketers isn’t diminishing—but it is evolving. Our creativity, our empathy and strategic thinking are what will make the difference, with AI serving as a catalyst, never the creator. As our clients and their customers continue to be captivated by the idea of AI, we have to remember what they come to us for. They come to us for insight. They come to us for disruption. For perspective. AI is a powerful input in our creative process, offering a world of possibilities. But at the end of the day, the output—the heart, soul and effectiveness of our work—rests in our hands. Sign up for Ad Age newsletters From influencer marketing to agencies, get the latest news and analysis delivered to your inbox Click here

Creatives and AI—why the human touch is irreplaceable

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