AI’s impact across creative, growth, & engineering 

The notion that AI takes away from creative satisfaction is flawed because it oversimplifies the role of these tools in creative work.

Instead of viewing AI-assisted creation as a threat, or as “lesser than,” you should see it as an opportunity to explore uncharted creative territories. Artists and creatives who have integrated AI-assisted tools into their workflow are already reaping the benefits. 

On a daily basis, our teams are already combining text-to-image tools, model-training tools, or Large Language Models (i.e ChatGPT) to produce unexpected results, communicate ideas faster and more effectively, and explore, validate, or discard creative tracks.

At the end of the day, the real magic doesn’t lie in the technical intricacies but in our capability as humans to improvise, remix, curate, translate a vision in the most fitting way, and come up with unique ways to combine these tools together.

While a growing number of voices are loudly raging about how “easy” it is to create perfect images with these tools, what we mostly see is often the same stereotypical, cold, and boring imagery being made over and over again. 

Having that tremendous power at the tip of your finger doesn’t mean you will have something new or relevant, and many AI-assisted works may not stand the test of time. But when deeply creative people begin with a clear vision and start bridging together “more tools,” the magic can finally happen.

We have to embrace exploring the fringe of what’s doable, new aesthetics, unexpected associations, and imperfections, to finally have a shot at transforming coal ideas into creative diamonds.

AI-assisted creation is already turning creative’s heads, and definitely has the potential to profoundly transform the creative industry. 

Here’s how you can leverage creative AI today, courtesy of some of the best minds in AI + creative technology.

Open up exciting new formats for storytelling & embodied experiences
From Nadia Piet, Head of Creative Tech

• AI can help create and amplify experiences by making them interactive and tailored to each user.
• AI creates new opportunities for storytelling through generative podcasts and non-linear films. Can you re-imagine your communication from a broadcast to a conversation?
• AI enables embodied ways of interacting with machines through gesture and voice to really drive your campaign message home. How might you bring your brand to life beyond static content?

Embrace these tools to increase efficiency and improve output 
Lauren Chester, Director of tech projects @ DEPT®

• Use Dall-E and mid-journey (and many others) to accentuate your work. But use it with an open mind. 
• Write with intent to get the most out of your prompts. Be prescriptive (e.g., say orange not bright). Ensure the structure and content of your sentence gives the context you need.
• Think about the parts of the process that can create efficiencies. From assets to creation, especially when we need lots of variety or a fast turnaround, to make the output more dynamic/interactive. 
• Use them to help you make your point. Inspiration for a creative brief, references for a pitch. Rather than searching online, create what you need in minutes. 

Improve creativity and create elements or storyboards faster
Jiri Dudek, Lead Motion @ DEPT®

• Experiment with combining different AIs and harness the power of ChatGPT to create bulletproof prompts for Midjourney. Use the creative power of these tools for delivering engaging storyboards or pitches.
• Learn to incorporate these unconventional ways into the new design development phase where they can help designers and creatives discover new campaign visual potential.
• AI can save time when creating textures or individual graphic elements that you need to use right away.

AI, creativity, and learning are mainstream. They will change how we learn.
Anders Jessen, CTO at Hello Monday

• The feedback loop between humans teaching AI algorithms–and then the AI teaching us something back in return–will continue to accelerate.
• AI interfaces are not all text. The input can be your body, facial expressions, and sounds.
• Using AI as a tool for playful learning will change the way we teach ourselves new concepts.

Entire organizations–but especially engineering teams–will continue to enhance value through rapid AI change. Or fall behind.

Leaders will have to search for ways to do more with less, find value where innovations overlap, and strategically invest in technologies that are hitting a tipping point.

AI can free up your engineering and data teams, acting as a junior developer on a variety of simple development tasks. We’ve seen varying success for things like generating new code, explaining unfamiliar concepts, and deciphering error messages. 

Rather than fear automation in the field of software engineering, programmers should embrace it as a way to improve productivity and stay current with technological advances. Automation has been a part of the software engineering industry from its inception – from Ada Lovelace’s description of a language to run Charles Babbage’s analytical engine, to text editors with macros, to GUI buttons that condense a series of commands to the click of a button.

Not convinced? By 2025, the 10% of enterprises that establish AI engineering best practices will generate at least three times more value from their AI efforts than the 90% of enterprises that do not. 

Here’s how you can leverage AI in engineering right away.

AI literacy is essential for business leaders who want to remain competitive
Jonathan Whiteside, Global SVP, Technology & Engineering

• By becoming AI-literate, business leaders can unlock the full potential of AI technology and gain a competitive advantage in the digital age.
• Leaders need to develop a data-driven culture and invest in the necessary data infrastructure to support AI initiatives.
• It’s crucial for leaders to prioritize ethical considerations when implementing AI technology to ensure responsible use and avoid unintended consequences.

Embrace the disruption as an opportunity for innovation and positive impact
Simon Collins, Engineering Director

• The use of Generative AI technology challenges traditional notions of copyright, authorship, security, bias, safety, and privacy, while the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) carbon footprint of AI services presents another challenge.
• When we see these sorts of problems around technologies with so much potential, we have an immense opportunity to lead by facing those tough questions and then delivering positive impact products/services that show how to do it right.

Define the challenge and find the friction points where AI can add value 
Carlos Dominguez, Sr Director of Innovation, Digital Products at DEPT®

You should avoid getting sucked into using AI for the sake of innovative tech. To help you find the value, try asking:

• Can you automate any repetitive tasks to improve your experience or optimize your workflow?
• Do you have enough data to train the AI, and is it high-quality data?
• Can you solve any of your challenges with a simpler solution?
• And always ask if there are any privacy, ethical, or trust concerns you need to address if you implement AI in your experience or for your audience.

Incorporate AI into your workflow to be more efficient, effective, & enjoyable
Ashwin Sundar, Sr software engineer

• Use AI to facilitate directed learning, improve personal knowledge management, and maximize learning from complex problems.
• Ask follow-up questions. Dig deep.
• Check your gut. Be critical of answers. Do external research to corroborate the outputs.