Creatives are increasingly playing it safe when it comes to using artificial intelligence tools – or at least they say they are – and avoiding them in the belief they are “cheating”, with the vast majority (84%) only seeing the technology as a helpful assistant.
That is according to new research from Wipro-owned global experience innovation consultancy Designit, which quizzed 1,200 creatives, including leading industrial, product and UX designers, on their feelings about using AI as part of the creative process.
Qualitative feedback included one respondent likening AI to “an enthusiastic junior prospect with exceptional math skills” while another said that the use of AI was inevitable but likely to be abused in the creative sector in the same way “as steroids are in the fitness industry”.
The findings from practising creatives chimes with those from a smaller student survey carried out as part of Designit’s recent AI residency at the School of Visual Arts which revealed that future designers also see a reliance on AI as cheating.
Designit global head of strategy and sustainability Miguel Sabel reckons that for many designers and creatives, the job is part and parcel of their wider identity, so the suspicion towards AI that the poll reveals is understandable.
He added: “The current conversations around which elements of the creative profession are likely to be automated by AI exacerbate the tendency to keep AI at arm’s length from the creative and use it only for safer, admin tasks.
“But playing it too safe means lagging behind. The notion that using a new technology to your advantage is disingenuous in some way misses the point that fundamentally, what people care about is the portrait you painted – in our world, the product or experience you created and the impact it has – rather than the brushes you used to paint it.
“It’s all about knowing where and when to apply new technology, which is especially true if it can inspire creativity – but it’s the end result and its externalities what counts.”
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