How AI is affecting the creative job market

In recent years, the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) has created a sonic boom in how various industries function. From ChatGPT to Dall-E, AI has thrown many careers into uncertainty and now the creative industry has come into the firing line. 

With artists, graphic designers, and UI and UX professionals worried about the impact of AI on their careers, it is important to distinguish between humans and AI within a creative field. Will AI replace creative jobs? Or must we embrace this new age of integrating AI into our everyday lives?

This blog delves into the influence of AI within the creative job market, exploring both the opportunities and challenges many workers are presented with.

What is AI?

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is a technology that allows computers to simulate human intelligence, using it to solve problems and think like we do. 

For many people, AI has only become mainstream and accessible within the past 18 months, but in reality, we have been using AI since long before this. The first AI boom actually goes back as far as the late 1970s when the first commercially available system, XCON, was designed. 

Since then, we have continued to develop AI, producing the first Roomba, speech-recognition software, and gaming systems such as the Xbox 360 Kinect. 

Now, the AI we’ve become familiar with is more advanced than ever, with the introduction of OpenAI and tools such as ChatGPT and Dall-E. These programmes are now capable of creating art, writing poetry or songs, and even designing complex products or systems.

Distinguishing between humans and machines

For those of us who value human creation, distinguishing between human-generated content and AI-generated content is essential. This is especially true when content is being marked as human-made when it is in fact not. For consumers, knowing whether something has been AI generated, such as a piece of art or a song, can make a huge difference in how it is perceived, with most people valuing content that has been created by someone, not a machine.

When using AI to produce content, the origins of the work should be clearly labelled, informing the consumer of how exactly the content has been created. This would help promote honesty and integrity towards the audience so that content is better consumed. By clearly labelling AI-generated content, human content creators are better protected, ensuring they receive the credit that human content creators deserve.

How AI is infringing on copyright

One of the most prevalent issues with the recent AI boom is the potential for copyright infringement on human creators. As AI works by analysing already existing data and algorithms, including existing artwork, music and various other creative outlets, the content created by AI may use or ‘steal’ content from humans. This raises serious concerns about copyright infringement, bringing into question the ethical and legal dilemma of AI-generated content. 

For artists who have a specific ‘style’ within their work, AI taking this and using it as an original form of content can be seen as plagiarism, greatly hindering the integrity and value of their content. As copyright laws in the UK are not up to date with recent AI developments, it is becoming increasingly difficult to control how AI generates creative content, with the growing need to protect human creators at an all-time high. 

The limitations of AI

We’ve talked about the negatives of AI in creative jobs, and how we can use AI to better our own work, but what about the limitations of AI? 

The concern with AI is that it takes from and copies real human-generated content, but what AI lacks is real human emotion. As we said earlier, AI generates its content from algorithms and a huge database of information, which you could say is the complete opposite of how a human would create content. As humans, we are inspired by the experiences and emotions that we feel, creating work that in some way relates to this. AI cannot ‘feel’ or even use emotion and experiences as a building block for its work. 

This will always be a key difference between human-generated and AI-generated content. As someone in a creative job, this mindset offers confidence that AI-generated content will not replace human-made content, and for those debating on utilising AI rather than an actual person, this is also something to consider.

Embracing AI with caution

The impact of AI, particularly within the creative job market, is obvious, with many other creatives concerned about the implications it may have on their own job. Overall, there are still many concerns surrounding AI, such as plagiarism, copyright infringement and devaluing human-generated content, however, by looking at AI as a tool to harness creativity rather than replace it, those in a creative job can benefit from the abilities of AI. Ultimately though, AI can still be abused, so it is paramount that new practices come into play to protect real content creators and their craft.

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