AI Doom or Gloom?

Let's face it AI is more than just a "Distruptor" - It's come in with a BANG! Pulled the carpet from under our feet and made us go, "DANG!".... but is it really "Kaput!" or can it be a possible "Ka-Ching!"? Is it Doom? or can we Boom? This is a nail biting question on every creative's mind.

Let's examine what happened here....

Some Possible Positives...

• The way we create has changed overnight!
• The IoT is truly at our fingertips....at our command or in this case our nuanced query - Heck! Open AI has taken "Ask and you shall receive" to a whole new level! If you've tried it out you'll feel like you have your own personal Genie in a bottle.
• Those who stay open to ride this new wave can learn fast, work smart and stay relevant
• The learning curve for most things will be greatly reduced.... things that were known to experts will be available freely for newbies to absorb at the rate of knots!
• AI is Levelling up the playing field here like never before
• The Productivity Potential is enormous!

Some Perceived Negatives

• Creatives are feeling destabilised and with uncertainty comes a feeling of being lost
• Jobs and designations as we know it have changed or will possibly become redundant
• Income slices of those delicious pie charts have virtually been eaten up by AI
• With cloning and replication tools we are questioning the ethics and best practices in most industries with the advent of AI - more so in the creative space.
• Privacy, Intellectual Property and Brand Uniqueness are being violated, Content identity theft and plagiarism is becoming child's play - What's the way forward and how can we put ground rules and governing laws in place so our individual and collective rights are safeguarded in cyberspace?

With the gusty winds of change often comes a storm of displacement and chaos. But as in nature, the storm passes and calm is always restored....blue skies and sunny weather where the birds chirp and the bees hum. This too shall pass.

Like in the past, many new and innovative things were invented by the sheer genius of the human mind... the telephone that connected people across the world, iron and steel ships that floated on water without sinking, that miracle of an airplane that defied gravity and now transports millions around the globe in hours if not minutes.... all this using not even 10% of our human intellectual and creative capacity. Machine learning algorithms are being refined as we speak....getting fed with intelligent human data voluntarily. But at the end of the day it is just that.... a machine with lifeless data.

We are the ones who infuse it with so called "life" - It will continue to lack soul and life's uniqueness that only Humans are capable of experiencing.

Sure! Graphics are being produced in seconds but they all have that "AI look and feel" - it is the creative artists that can truly make "original art" - There is and will always be value in exclusivity and originality.

Absolutely! Voice overs are being produced with a click of a button now.... modulated, inflected and articulated with accents thrown in to the milieu but they too sound more or less the same with that easy to identify "AI Sound" lacking emotional depth and nuance that only a human heart that lives and breathes can bring to life.

MNC clients have already started insisting that I sign an agreement that ensures I do not use any AI voice....protections for cloning my voice are also in place in clauses that safeguard the interest of Artistes.

Yes! Clients and agencies I work with have started using AI. Why wouldn't they? They get a good idea how long their video is with an AI voice and while some have started using it for straightforward tutorials or educational content... as soon as there is a proper noun; a name of a person or place or a tricky medical or technical term with abbreviations - they seek out a real Human Voice to handle those projects.

I would imagine really low budget projects that VO talent should not be taking up anyway can be handled by AI freeing up time to handle the really creative and enjoyable projects. I don't see those projects being replaced by AI. Leading Brands and MNCs will know better than to associate their entities with a cheap, run of the mill AI voice. They'll want to continue to stand out from the crowd and differentiate their Brand Voice with a REAL human voice - a thinking, feeling, emotive one that understands the human heart and connects to other humans through that shared experience....authenticity and relatability will continue to come at a premium and there will always be a experienced voice talent that offers that premium conversational voice.

Surprisingly! AI cloning hasn't spared singing too. Justin Beiber, JLo and Drake soundalikes and lookalikes are releasing music videos and tributes to the Pope that are going viral. Ugh!! Cyberspace is a bit of a mess at the moment. 😅

The way I see it - It's a new toy to play with. Open AI has changed the way we work, we play and we create just like the way the internet and later social media changed the way we worked, we played and we created about a couple of decades or more ago. We have adapted, adopted, learnt and regulated. I have no doubt we will do it again.

It's an experimental phase.... the launch, the tinkering around, the adoption and our intrinsic adaptability will show us the way forward. Best practices will come into place eventually and we will minimise the risks while proliferating with the all the benefits.

Communication is here to stay.... It's the way we Humans connect with each other. The way we communicate may change but the need to communicate is going nowhere!

And NO!! Video DID NOT KILL the Radio star!

I certainly hope that AI will not kill the Human spirit. That is what will always differentiate us. The living, breathing and actually experiencing human spirit - filled with joy and oodles of charm, depths of sorrow and endless creativity and imagination - the same intellectual and imaginative visionary that brought AI to life.

I am one of those billions of humans - I was born with an intrinsic sense of hope, enthusiasm and a spirit of adventure - I choose to use AI as a tool to springboard from and enjoy the joy ride! I'm excited to see how much I can do and how fast I can achieve with this brand new personal assistant.

There will always be the good, the bad and the ugly. This is just the way of the world; a realm of co-existence so we can be challenged to push our boundaries and seek to learn and grow while we're here for short blip in time. I ask... can the created destroy the creator? Nah!I'd like to believe not! Not in a long, long time to come anyway ..... 🤞🏼

It's all a matter of perspective - your POV - So are you a skeptic who prefers to wallow in the gloom and doom or will you choose to adopt the growth mindset?

I'd love to know what you think. Any comments?

ps: This is a 100% original article. I did not consult google nor put it through chatGPT. Just saying.