The dos and don'ts of using AI for creative.

Now that AI can do everything, we may as well shut up shop and go home right? Of course not, that would be silly. Using AI for creative is great in many respects but it can't replace a proper skilled human. At least not yet...

At Creative Cupboard we have been thrilled, delighted, entertained and, at times, horrified by what AI is capable of. We've spent the last year or so taking a real deep dive into what AI can offer us. It's fair to say that there certainly are ways it can help but you also need to exercise a degree of caution. Read on for our handy guide on what to press the AI accelerator for and when you should be easing off.

DO

Use AI as a sounding board. If you're weighing up two approaches to a problem or want feedback on an idea, then running it past your friendly AI platform of choice can offer a different perspective and throw up things you hadn't though of.
Ask AI for help generating ideas. We've all been stuck. If you're struggling, you can ask AI for it's thoughts on a brief. Chances of AI nailing it first time are vanishingly small but it might bring up something you can develop into a winner.
Keep a critical eye. AI can have a funny idea of what constitutes "good". When the entire internet is your source material you're going to be exposed to a whole lot of trash. This is where your experience is an essential tool, trust your own judgement over AI.
Protect your originality. Remember, AI never creates anything truly new. All AI output is an amalgamation of what's gone before. If you want something truly unique, you're going to have to put some person power into it.

DON'T

Use it for everything. Focus on where AI can help you save time but remember what makes your output unique. AI cannot replicate this and you shouldn't want it to.
Forget to scrutinise AI produced work. You'll often need to take a really close look at AI generated work. I mean, really close. AI loves to throw a random curve ball into its work. You need to make sure you're equipped to spot and stop this. There really is no substitute for working experience.
Create stupid stuff just because you can. It's tempting, it really, is but AI searches are incredibly resource greedy. The environmental impact of AI has the potential to be massive. Think carefully if you really need to make a video of a cat turning into popcorn...
Lose your voice. When you can get written material in seconds gen AI copy can be an attractive short-cut but do you really want to sound just like everyone else? Embrace who you are and what makes you special, warts and all.
Get lazy. Simply, lazy use of AI is the worst. The absolute worst. It leads to rubbish work and nobody likes it. If you just want to tick boxes, get a job as a box ticker. If you like your job, even a little bit, put some effort in and produce something you're proud of.

Creative Cupboard - work with heart.

At Creative Cupboard we genuinely love what we do. Whilst we're not averse using AI to help sharpen a paragraph or tidy up the background in an image, we know how important true personality and originality is in creative work.

As professionals, we can tell what work is AI produced and what isn't but can consumers? Maybe or maybe not, but one thing we're sure of is that output that is 100% AI generated doesn't connect or engage on that human level that we all seek out, whether we realise it or not.

If you want your creative work produced by humans and not robots, get in touch. Not only will you get marketing materials with more heart and soul but if you come for a meeting, we'll offer you biscuits too. And ChatGPT doesn't do that...