By: Malayna Alvarez, Blog & Communications Director
Welcome back, Ad Club! New year, new campaigns, and one very large elephant in the room.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has crept up on our screens. Those TikToks you watched last night? Most were probably created with AI in some way. And unfortunately, this technology has begun to plague the business world as well, especially through the process of ad creation. The question we must ask as advertisers is essential: are we heading toward ads made entirely by machines?
It’s easy to want to let AI do the hard work for you, yet we must not rely on it entirely. In a recent study, participants who had more confidence in generative AI also said they engaged in less critical thinking when they used it to complete work tasks. These tasks included developing new ideas, learning new topics, and getting guidance when making decisions.
As a society, we need to decide where to draw the line between AI and human creativity, especially in the realm of advertising. I’m sure those of us with a creative degree are losing our minds, feeling as though the jobs we’ve dreamt of having won’t exist in the near future. Fortunately, many people remain skeptical about AI. The majority believe that AI will worsen your ability to think creatively, form meaningful relationships, make difficult decisions, and solve problems when used regularly.
Before you run around, scream, and cry about how you won’t have a stable job in the future, we must emphasize the importance of human creativity over AI. The more we use AI, the fewer skills we build and ideas we create. Would you really like to know that every ad you see was made by a computer? Many people even feel manipulated by the idea, especially when companies don’t disclose the fact that their content is AI-created. This is why the regulation of AI has become a valid desire.
I’m not saying that we should go completely AI-free. AI can be used in a positive way if we use it as a tool rather than a gateway to easier ad creation. You could allow it to inspire your work rather than complete it for you. It’s often easy to tell when AI does all the work, but the problem is the in-between, where AI assists and nobody discloses it. People appreciate authentic ads with soulful meaning rather than “lazy” computer-generated work.
We are headed toward a future where AI could transform advertising. That’s why we must push for regulation of AI to protect our future in the business world and in society as a whole.
But regulation alone isn’t enough.
We also have to have faith in people: faith that we still want better for the world, and that we’ll keep choosing ads with soul, made by human hands, over the easy, machine-made alternative. The machines can help us create, but it’s up to us to decide that human creativity is worth keeping.
Because things get real, real fast. 