Christ, my head is pounding. It’s 6 AM, and I’m staring at yet another article about AI and creativity while nursing what might be the worst hangover since New Year’s 2019. The bourbon isn’t helping, but at least it’s making this latest round of techno-optimistic bullshit somewhat digestible.
So here’s the latest: some suit-wearing prophets are claiming AI might hurt creativity if we’re not careful. No shit. You know what else hurts creativity? Sobriety. Trust me on this one.
Let me break this down while I light another Camel.
The article mentions Peter Chernin and his venture capital buddies dumping money into something called “Promise” - a gen AI studio that’s going to revolutionize filmmaking. Right. And I’m going to revolutionize professional wrestling by teaching my cat kung fu. These guys are throwing around cash like drunk sailors at a strip club, except the sailors usually get better returns on their investment.
And the kicker? They’re comparing this AI boom to the dot-com era. I was there for that one, friends. Lost my shirt, my girlfriend, and my faith in humanity - though not necessarily in that order. At least during the dot-com boom, we had actual parties. This AI circle jerk is happening in sterile boardrooms with green smoothies instead of whiskey.
Remember that AI-generated Coca-Cola ad they mentioned? Jesus H. Christ. I’ve seen more authentic emotion in a DMV employee at closing time. It’s like they fed an algorithm every commercial cliché from the last fifty years and asked it to vomit them back out in high definition. The result? About as moving as my last colonoscopy video.
Now, here’s where it gets interesting (time for another drink). Some researchers at the University of Minnesota - probably running on coffee and desperation - did experiments with AI and advertising creatives. Turns out AI works better as a “sounding board” than a “ghostwriter.” You don’t say? That’s like saying your neighborhood bartender gives better life advice than a self-help book written by a toaster.
The best part? When expert ad creators used AI as a ghostwriter, it actually made their work worse. That’s like giving Hemingway a predictive text keyboard and expecting “The Old Man and the Sea.” The machine doesn’t understand that sometimes the best ideas come at 3 AM after your fourth whiskey, when you’re questioning every life choice that led you to this moment.
Some marketing professor at Pepperdine (probably hasn’t seen the inside of a dive bar in decades) says AI can’t understand cultural trends. No shit, professor. AI has never had its heart broken, never woke up in a strange city without its wallet, never had to explain to its landlord why the rent is late again. How the hell is it supposed to understand what moves people?
Look, I’m not saying AI is useless. It’s like having a very eager but somewhat dim intern who never sleeps and doesn’t steal your bourbon. Use it to check your spelling, format your documents, maybe even bounce ideas off it when you’re too drunk to bother your friends. But letting it take the creative lead? That’s like letting your cat drive your car because it spends a lot of time watching you do it.
The truth is, creativity comes from the messy, painful, beautiful disaster that is human existence. No amount of machine learning can replicate the insight you get from watching the sun rise over the city while nursing both a hangover and a broken heart.
But what do I know? I’m just a guy who writes about technology while maintaining a blood alcohol level that would make Keith Richards proud.
Time for another drink. The sun’s up, and these AI evangelists aren’t going to mock themselves.
Yours truly from the bottom of a bottle, Henry Chinaski
P.S. - No AI was harmed in the writing of this post, though several bottles of bourbon gave their lives for the cause.
Source: Will The AI Boom Hurt Creativity? Not If Humans Lead The Way