While the C-suite and others are sprinting to understand, leverage and deploy AI-based technologies into their organizations and transformation plans, creatives may be wondering, how does generative AI fit into my world?
Design, art, visual, word, sound and experience have always demanded left-brain talent and skill to realize—but technology now plays a role in bringing nearly every form of immersive media to life. So begs the question, what role does Generative AI, a transformative technology built squarely on right-brain thinking (it is after all, machine learning at the core), play in a tech-accelerated creative world?
The branching narrative
In the realm of gaming, specifically in open world games, branching narrative is a storytelling approach where the interactions between game characters are not limited to a fixed path, offering an extensive array of potential outcomes for conversations, interactions, and, in the end, the game’s storyline itself. Branching narratives amalgamate vast troves pre-defined, possible interactions to craft a unique experience for each player. The same can be said for Generative AI.
Generative AI models ingest insane amounts of existing data to rearrange, recombine, and reframe into new expressive formats. These expressions can present infinite combinations for creatives to leverage in order to spark, catalyst, refine and distill into their own, beautiful narratives.
Creatives often wonder, is working with Generative AI authentic to the creative process? It’s a fair point—but I would offer this observation: creativity comes largely from inspiration and inspiration requires a starting point; it never happens in a vacuum. This may likely be something in existence the human brain re-imagines in a new, unique way.
If generative AI can produce such a starting point, such inspiration at speed and at scale, could the creative process be augmented, accelerated and scaled. Absolutely.
Speed, scale.
Corporate creatives operating in complex, matrix organizations face unique variables; continuously building and preserving brand equity in an environment of constant change, accelerating delivery of system-aligned assets and delivering quality work that is still emotive.
Now, they’re likely facing another variable: resource constraint and cost pressure. 69% of US CEOs expect higher profitability in 2024. After a wild ride of inflation, wage growth and input price pressures, the attention now turns to reducing costs.
Managed and outsourced creative services will likely be first for cost-out consideration, requiring internal talent to adapt and align to a new reality.
That’s where generative AI’s use case is compelling—augmenting, accelerating and scaling creative production for creatives, marketers and strategists
Equilibrium at center
Candidly, savvy professionals exposed to public or open AI generated work know when it’s AI generated. Horror stories are emerging of white-collar professionals deploying unchecked, garbage outputs they thought would shine, or that no one would notice that they suddenly woke up one day with transformed work products.
Thankfully, leading organizations quickly adopted policy and issued guidance on Generative-AI, with client serving organizations largely banning the use. What remains is the most compelling AI platform proposition; closed-system generative AI models built on each organization’s unique data. Models which internalize the organization’s existing content, data, visual identity, tone of voice and key messaging to produce new amalgamations, convergences and inspirations—branching narratives for the next creative frontier.
Therein lies the need for balance; generative AI that has been properly calibrated to an organization can unleash tremendous efficiency. That’s likely why 100% of US CEOs (no joke on that figure by the way) are currently making or planning significant investments in generative AI. But human talent (albeit less of it) is still needed to unlock the full value.
The narrative is still generating—but understanding practical GenAI applications, discovering new use-cases and deploying AI-enabled strategies can help organizations, and their internal talent, thrive in the next-normal—however the next normal’ s branching narrative is written.
