Last week, industry colleague Scott Powell shared a long-format thought piece around the impant of AI and how it might affect the Advertising & Marketing industries.
Reading The Paradox of Creativity felt like watching a mirror form mid-air reflecting both our hunger for innovation and a deep nostalgia for something we’re quietly losing. Some of it is hard to face. The idea that human-made art might soon be the exception, not the norm, isn’t just a shift in medium, it’s a shift in meaning.
I agree with the central thread: society is already starting to look backward, grasping for the raw, imperfect beauty that only human hands and minds can create. We’re beginning to crave authenticity again. In a world soon to be flooded with hyper-efficient, AI-generated content, it’s the flawed, the deeply personal, the soul-bearing work that will stand out.
That’s why AI should remain a tool. One that tightens up repetitive tasks, handles drudgery, helps with project management. But it shouldn’t be the artist. It shouldn’t replace the spark that comes from lived experience, pain, joy, risk the things that feed real creativity.
We’re on the precipice of something wild. What that something is, only time will tell. But it’s clear we need to decide, collectively and consciously, what kind of creative future we’re building and who gets to build it.
Thanks, Scott, for the reflection. It’s one we all need to sit with.
