100% Human Artistry and Storytelling in Marketing

I run a freelance creative marketing business. I use the phrase “100% human artistry and storytelling” a lot in my marketing, and if it wasn't obvious, that is kind of code for “No gen AI is used in the making of my work.” This is a controversial opinion (although not a surprising one for me to have), but I don’t think AI is the future.

Firstly, it’s not exactly new technology. Artificial intelligence has been around for decades, and there are different types of AI,* but it’s only in the last few years that generative AI has been forced into virtually every kind of internet-based technology, in an almost cult-like manner.

Secondly, without getting into the ecological, ethical, economic, and health-related ramifications of the widespread use of gen AI and the building of giant AI data centers, I think for something to be "the future,” it needs to bring advancements that benefit society, and I just haven’t seen that happening here. I don’t even find gen AI useful. It’s more like a toy than a tool, and people are getting tired of it.

AI-generated graphics and copy all look and sound both standard and uncanny, and most people don't want to interact with a robot. Marketing communications created by or with AI is missing a soul, it’s not relatable, and it loses the opportunity for real, authentic connection and relationship-building.

AI has always been around, and it will continue to be used, and I know there are people using it responsibly, but it's not this great technological advancement that's going to take over the world. I’m not worried about getting left behind for not using gen AI. I’ll keep my originality, creativity, human relationships, and cognitive skills. I’d rather those qualities stay in my work.

*and I'm not bashing traditional AI, which is very useful and important in fields like science, medicine, and security, or the AI tools like autocorrect, magic lasso, background remover, spam detector, and route calculation that are built into the software we use every day