AI: The Creative Partner You Need in 2023

It’s no secret that AI has seen a massive shift in the last year. Hell, 6 months.

The technology is undeniably groundbreaking.

Undeniably.

But I have some beef.

The number of headlines I’ve seen claiming that ChatGPT is a “Google Killer” astounds me. Frankly, those headlines demonstrate exactly the kind of writing I am attempting to counter here. Low quality click-bait.

ChatGPT is not a Google Killer. Bing with ChatGPT integrated might be a small thorn in Google’s side. But Google Killer? No.

Just as an aside, I’m really annoyed by this. No one more quickly ruins great ideas (and UIs) than Microsoft. I’ll fight anyone on this. Don’t murder ChatGPT too.

Regardless, I think the whole ‘Google Killer’ thing demonstrates a bit of short sightedness around the real value of AI as it stands now.

In our new post-office (Not post office, like where you get your mail, but post-office, with a hyphen, like no longer working in an office. Punctuation matters, people.) world, collaboration is more difficult than ever. While I am absolutely not a mass RTO advocate, there is something magical about creative work done in physical proximity to your team. Simply having others to bounce ideas off of, and trigger new ideas of your own, is invaluable in the creative process. For me anyway, but I’m an extrovert.

While there are some absolutely mind-blowing examples of AI like ChatGPT giving you information, writing functional code and nailing term papers for you, I think the best use of these AI tools (right now, anyway) is not in place of Google, but as a creative partner.

I think this will change, as AI becomes even more reliable and integrated into everything we do, but as it stands, it is simply not quite reliable enough to trust the results, and you end up needing to fact check or debug everything anyway.

But you don’t need facts. You need a creative partner.

When you’re stuck drafting an email, titling a blog, or figuring out the syntax for a certain block of code, asking ChatGPT might give you just the information you need to break through the fog and keep moving.

Recently I was stuck titling a piece of writing and I asked ChatGPT for 50 options. I didn’t use any of them, but the sudden avalanche of ideas jarred my brain out of the space it was stuck in and helped me to see a completely different path than before.

I don’t think this is limited to text either. I recently saw woodworker David Picciuto (Make Something on YouTube) ask Midjourney for inspiration on designing a towel rack, then built the render.

Now, this was an interesting experiment in seeing how possible the output was to actually build, but it is a great demonstration of the true power of the AI. Midjourney doesn’t actually understand woodworking. It doesn’t understand joinery, or grain direction, or any kind of efficiency that makes most woodworkers able to actually build what they imagine.

But the AI’s idea, filtered through the knowledge base of a seasoned creative, can get you somewhere you never thought you were going.

Check out the video on Make Something below, and the next time you’re feeling stuck, ask a robot for help. They might be the best creative partner you ever had.