Stay human. Stay valuable. Practical guidance for working creatives navigating AI.
In this series I explore crucial questions about creativity, careers and creative value in the age of AI, from my perspective as a poet and a coach for professional creatives.
AI has landed on the creative industries like an asteroid.
Few of us asked for it, or were expecting it. Many of us don’t like it. But we all have to deal with it.
Depending on your situation, AI may look like a useful new tool, a threat to your livelihood, an intriguing new collaborator, or an insult to your artistic principles (or all of them at once).
In my coaching sessions, as well as in conversations with friends and fellow artists, I’m encountering a wide spectrum of responses, from anger to enthusiasm and just about every emotion in between.
So I’m writing this series, AI for Creative Professionals, as a way of exploring the issues around AI, creativity, and making a living as a creative.
Whatever artistic or creative field you work in, and whatever your stance towards AI, I hope this series helps you find a little more clarity about the issues, so that you can make better decisions about how to respond.
Because like it or not, the asteroid has landed, sending great clouds of dust into the atmosphere and threatening to fundamentally change the environment in which we operate. Whatever we think of the technology or the people promoting it, each of us needs to find a response that both honours our creativity and gives us a practical way forward.
And let’s face it, none of us want to be dinosaurs.
This page brings together all the articles in the series – I’ll add the new ones as I publish them. Each piece tackles a different facet of the same question posed by AI for creatives: what does it mean to stay human, and to keep making meaningful work, in an AI-saturated culture?
Why Creatives Hate AI – and Why We Can’t Ignore It
‘Do I really have to use AI?’ If you’re torn between resisting AI on principle and worrying you’ll be left behind, this piece will help you find a sane middle ground. I explain why I’m not an enthusiast for AI – and why I am engaging with it in spite of my reservations, drawing on inspiration from one of my creative heroes.
Why AI Can’t Make Art (and Probably Never Will)
‘Is AI art really art?’ If you’ve ever looked at AI ‘art’ and felt something essential was missing – even when the image looked impressive – this piece explains why your instincts are not wrong. I look at a fundamental quality of art that is often overlooked in the current debate. I also consider a couple of scenarios in which AI might cross the line into something we could call art.
The Artist in the Loop: Taste Is Your Edge in an AI World
‘What’s left for human creatives when AI can churn out “good enough” on demand?’ In a culture drowning in AI mediocrity, your edge is taste and judgement. This article shows how to be the Artist in the Loop – raising the ceiling, taking responsibility for the outcome, and making the case for ‘better’ to clients, collaborators or managers tempted to settle for ‘faster’.
7 Ways to Use AI in Your Creative Process (without Losing Your Soul)
‘How can I use AI in my creative process?’ A practical guide to using AI to augment your creative process while retaining your unique vision and style. It covers seven aspects of creativity: developing ideas, research, sketching and drafting, doing the previously impossible, collaborating with yourself, feedback and revision, and pitching and promotion. Featuring lots of examples of creatives using AI in practice, plus prompts and other things for you to try.
Follow the rest of the series…
These first few articles have addressed some of the big picture issues around AI in the creative industries. Future pieces will focus on practical questions such as:
- How to incorporate AI into your creative process without compromising your artistic integrity.
- Emerging opportunities for creative freelancers and micro-enterprises.
- How to avoid being led down unproductive rabbit-holes by overconfident but misguided bots.
- Where the markets for human creativity are still to be found.
I’ll add new articles to this page as I publish them. So you can follow this series by bookmarking this page, or signing up for my mailing list.
Podcast Interviews about AI and Creativity
From my podcast, The 21st Century Creative.
Marcus du Sautoy on AI and the Future of Creativity
The renowned mathematician shares insights from his book The Creativity Code.
Tyler Hobbs: an Artist Who Paints with Code
Tyler does not use AI in his creative process, but he does share some very interesting thoughts about the potential of AI art towards the end of this interview.
My Perspective: A Poet and Coach
My name is Mark McGuinness. I’m an award-winning poet and a coach for creative professionals.
As a poet, I care about artistry.
As a coach (and former psychotherapist), I care about authenticity and emotional intelligence. I also care about creatives receiving due credit and reward for their work, and their ability to sustain a living.
I’m not a technologist or an AI evangelist.
I’m curious about technology and how it can help me extend my abilities and my reach. I started blogging in 2006 and it changed my life and my business.
I also remember the arrival of the brave new world of social media, and how that turned out. So my curiosity about any new technology is tempered with some healthy scepticism.
I hold an MA in Creative and Media Enterprises (with Distinction) from Warwick University, where I studied Theories of Creativity, the Creative Economy, Managing Creativity and Organisation Theory and Creativity.
I’ve written four books for creatives. And I’m currently helping my clients to navigate the strange new world of AI and creativity.
On the one hand, I know that creativity isn’t as purely Romantic as the popular myths of genius would have us believe. On the other hand, I know it’s not as purely mechanistic as the AI evangelists seem to think.
The truth about creativity is more complex and nuanced. I help my clients to tease out that complexity and nuance, and what it means for them, their work and their careers. I’m writing this series in the hope of doing something similar for you.
You can follow the series here on this page, as I add new articles. Or via my mailing list, or my updates on Twitter/X and LinkedIn.