AI in the creator economy; the state of publishing; a rubric for storytelling: Newsletter 13 November 2024
Newsletter 70. When artists should (or mustn’t) use AI; standing desks aren’t worth it; low satisfaction for publishing workers. Plus three people to follow and three books to read.
Should you use AI to create?
Many of us make our living by creating. This includes both freelancers in the so-called creator economy and people who do creative work for organizations: writers, graphic designers, coders, audio and video producers, architects, and so on endlessly.
Every creative worker now faces a question: should I use AI to do my work? And will AI replace my work?
To a certain extent, this question is not new, it is an extension of trends that have existed for decades. Once designers adopted tools like Adobe Illustrator, they could align elements vertically on center automatically — is that a loss of creative control? Microsoft Word and Google Docs have been alerting writers to misspelled words, missing words, passive voice, and other writing flaws for years now. Coders use integrated development environments and tools like Git to improve their productivity and teamwork. Audio tools can remove background noise and keep musicians on pitch. AI is more powerful than all of those tools, but the questions it raises are similar: when should I depend on a machine to do part of my work, and when should I do it myself?
Here are three perspectives from which to consider that question, plus a recommendation on how to combine them to answer the question, “How should I use AI when I create?”
The first perspective is the perspective of the audience: the reader, the viewer, the creative consumer. If AI can improve the experience of a creative consumer, there’s a good argument that you should use it. Writers can use AI to find logical flaws and contradictions in their writing. Artists can use it to find stylistically similar works to draw ideas from to spice up their work. Too often, AI-created art is tiresome to consume — because it’s flat, uninteresting, and uninspired. But some work doesn’t need to be endlessly creative. If AI can improve the readability of a set of instructions or a calculate measurements from a photo, the users of that art may benefit. AI that makes art better is a boon.
The second perspective is the perspective of the creative person. The act of creation includes both creativity and drudgery. Creativity not only creates more interesting art, it creates a more enjoyable experience for the artist. To the extent that AI can take care of the drudgery, I’m all for it. Find mistakes. Conduct research. Summarize large amounts of text. Format footnotes. Creatives who enter a flow state experience exhilaration and often produce greatness. When AI removes obstacles to that flow state, it becomes a useful tool.
Finally, there is the combined perspective of communication. The act of creation generates a communicative bond between the creator and the consumer. The artists is saying “I want you to see this, hear this, feel this, understand this” and the audience is reading, hearing, or viewing the result and thinking “I feel something — is that what you meant?” The communication is imperfect, but that’s the charm: every member of the audience perceives it a little differently. Where AI can improve that connection, it’s beneficial. Where is reduces or impairs that connection, it’s problematic.
Putting it all together: AI that empowers creators to create better creative output that communicates more effectively is worth using.
And to the contrary, AI that more efficiently creates soulless crap is a force for evil, and artists (and their management) should avoid it.
There are a lot of subtleties here, of course. But if creative workers — and the people who employ them — keep those principles in mind, the results will be better for everyone.
A personal note about what I just wrote
I didn’t use AI to write any of what you just read. I typed it just as you see it. But I did use AI to generate suggestions for some words and ideas, which I then applied my own creativity to select and use. I did use AI to create the graphic, which is pure decoration (and I have no artistic talent), but there was creativity in the prompt I used to create it.
If you think I could have created this essay better if I had let AI do the work, you’re going to have to tell me how. I enjoyed writing this; I hope you enjoyed reading it.
News for writers and others who think
There are four simple principles for great stories. Josh Lowman 💈 wrote them down for you. (Editing “stories” to turn them into actual stories is the most challenging thing I do as an editor, so please read this to make your writing better.)
Publishers Weekly published the results of its publishing-industry survey (subscriber link). Highlights: Publishing workers are 80% white and 79% women. Median compensation for 2023 was $75,000, up 7.3% over the previous year. A disturbingly low 39% are very or extremely satisfied with their jobs. One in four believe AI will have a positive impact on their jobs, while 40% see AI as a negative.
Standing desks don’t make you healthier. Sit the heck down. Just walk around once in a while. (Washington Post, gift link)
Now that every cable has USB-C on at least one end, they’re all interchangeable right? Unfortunately, not. And they never will be. So says Ian Bogost in The Atlantic (gift link).
The American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) is having a fall membership drive, including $75 off of membership fees with the code “2024FALLDRIVE”. Learn more here.
Three people to follow
Lori Wizdo , incisive digital marketing expert with decades of experience.
Gerd Leonhard , visionary author and futurist.
Steve Woodruff , positioning expert offering a free Webinar on “How to Turn Your Elevator Pitch into a Memory Dart.”
Three books to read
The Responsive Enterprise: Transform Your Organization to Thrive on Change by Curt Schwab and Katie Markwell (Ideapress, 2024). How senior management should address technology-driven change, from two long-tenured management consulting leaders.
What’s Your Dream?: Find Your Passion. Love Your Work. Build a Richer Life by Simon Squibb (Crown Currency, 2025). Insights from a guy who’s helping 10 million people kickstart their businesses.
Loonshots: Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries by Safi Bahcall (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2020). The natural history of world-changing innovation.