AI Isn’t the Enemy—But Lazy Creatives Might Be
Once in a while I finish an everyday I’m happy with but for the life of me have no clue how I got there. Other times I do know, but I feel like getting a little additional insight—or even a chuckle.
So I ask handy dandy ChatGPT what it thinks of today’s everyday. Today my friendly neighbourhood art critique mentioned, among other things, that:
“It could be interpreted as a futuristic power core, an artificial intelligence brain, or even a metaphor for the modern mind — bright and composed on the surface, but complex and frenetic beneath.”
An Artificial Intelligence.
Artificial Intelligence is everywhere right now — and for good reason.
It’s powerful, accessible, and (let’s be honest) incredibly handy when used right. As a creative professional who wears too many hats on most days, I genuinely appreciate AI as a tool.
But that’s all it is: a tool. Not a replacement.
AI has been seeing a lot of press these days. As an investment opportunity, the new frontier. Everyone has their own little version and their own stake in it.
The rise of AI has made a lot of people anxious — especially in the creative industry. I get it. There’s a fear that if you can generate a halfway decent visual, voiceover, or script with a click, what’s stopping companies from cutting out actual talent altogether?
Well, the short answer is: nothing… unless we set the tone.
AI doesn’t replace experience. It doesn’t understand nuance, it doesn’t carry intuition, and it sure as hell doesn’t troubleshoot like someone who’s been in the trenches.
But pair AI with an experienced designer, director, artist, or writer — and you’ve got a supercharged workflow.
The trick is not to lean on it too heavily. Don’t get lazy.
Adobe would have you use their generative fill anywhere and everywhere. Gone are the days of carefully selecting, masking out, clone stamping or healing brush tools. Or so they’d have you believe.
My own experience has been a little different, but that was a while ago. I abandoned Adobe’s offerings a little under a year ago amidst their big Terms of Service debacle. I’ve since switched over to the Affinity suite (because I love not being locked in by a subscription) and have found that for my needs the software has me covered.
Mind you, it does not (yet) come with fancy selection tools or generative AI. Of course I miss those tools, their ease of use. There have definitely been moments where it could have saved me a lot of time, but in truth they’re not really the quintessential “you need these or you’ll never get your work done” tools they’re made out to be. At least not to me.
I’ve been using my tools for around two decades now and I’d like to think that I know them fairly well.
So while tools like generative fill and easy peasy lemon squeezy selections do have their time and place, they’re hardly essential.
Don’t let the tool do the thinking for you. That’s how the work starts losing its edge — and worse, its integrity.
Speaking of which, let’s talk about what recently happened to Jamie Lee Curtis.
A recent Ad – which has since been removed – used footage from an interview with the actress about January’s Los Angeles area wildfires. Artificial intelligence was used to digitally manipulate and dub her voice to make it appear that she was endorsing a dental product.
That’s not just ethically wrong, it’s legally idiotic.
You wouldn’t use her actual voice and face in an ad without clearing it through the proper channels, so why should an AI-made version be any different?
Short answer again: it shouldn’t.
“That’s not just ethically wrong, it’s legally idiotic.”
These rogue companies that cut corners for a quick buck are dragging the entire potential of AI through the mud.
They’re giving the tech a bad reputation — not because of what it can do, but because of how irresponsibly it’s being used.
So here’s the bottom line:
AI is a fantastic tool for creatives. It helps with ideation, iteration, and even production if you know what you’re doing.
But it’s not a shortcut around actual creativity, experience, or ethics.
Use it wisely, or don’t use it at all.
A Note on AI Collaboration
So do I shun AI? Do I outright avoid it? No, in fact this article was written in collaboration with AI — or, more accurately, with a bit of support from a digital thought partner.
As someone with ADHD, writing long-form content can be non-trivial. Organizing thoughts? No problem. But shaping them into something cohesive that flows logically, doesn’t wander, and doesn’t make the reader do mental gymnastics across the page? That’s where things get tricky — and frankly, anxiety-inducing. In my experience, that’s why I tend to postpone and put off the task rather than tackle it head-on.
Just ask my high school teachers and college professors. My papers were either past due or even more challenging for them to read than they were for me to write.
That’s where AI fits into my workflow. It plays the role of an editor or collaborator — helping me keep structure, stay focused, and keep the rails from disappearing halfway through.
As a freelance creative, it’s the closest I get to bouncing ideas off someone else in real time when working alone.
But the direction, the thoughts, the perspective? All me. Every word is reviewed, tweaked, or rewritten before I ever hit publish.
This is still my voice — just with a little help keeping the signal clear.
