Quinn the Fox & The Dockyard illustration
Watching artists and creatives navigate the landscape of AI in real time has been fascinating. It’s like getting a fly-on-the-wall view of what artisans must have experienced during the Industrial Revolution or how 2D animators felt when 3D took over. We’re at an intriguing and pivotal moment for the creative industry.
Your work can’t be too perfect, or you'll risk accusations of using AI. Yet, it must be professional, or you risk never being hired or losing your audience. This dynamic was first seen on TikTok, where overly polished videos often performed poorly because they resembled ads, while more authentic-looking videos were mistaken for amateur content.
Like most creatives, over the past few months, I myself have been soul-searching to find ways to stay relevant in this evolving industry. It takes a lot of hubris to believe that your work can’t be replaced by AI - at least on a surface level. Most styles can already be replicated, and even the ones that can't yet be replicated probably will be soon. But perhaps that doesn't matter too much.
Judging by the 37,000 people who saw my illustration on social media, it's the storytelling aspect that truly matters. And I still have plenty of stories left to tell. The key question for the industry will be: How can we tell these stories as richly when the creator isn't necessarily there to tell them?