Creatives: forget the fear. It’s time to embrace creative AI

What got me into the world of creative AI?

Honestly? Fear.

Two years ago I was heading up a creative department in a marketing comms agency and I heard about an AI copywriting company that was outperforming human writers.

It terrified me.

So much so that I immediately started investigating my so-called ‘competitor’.

I read books, scoured articles, devoured blogs. I listened to podcasts and talked to anyone who’d answer my questions, often pestering keynote speakers at events.

Then I decided I needed to take control of my own narrative, as they call it in self-help books. I took the leap and co-founded a Creative AI agency and consultancy — Tiny Giant.

In those early days, I dealt with lots of snarky remarks. People asked: “what do you know about AI?”. And I endured snobby comments that culminated in phrases like: “but you’re not a computer scientist!”.

I took them on the chin. I cracked on.

Why shouldn’t creatives be interested in AI? Why should we feel like imposters in the tech space? AI is changing OUR industry after all.

AI booze, curators and poetry

Roll on two years and Tiny Giant is still bounding along. I’m a Creative AI Consultant, a speaker, podcaster, the co-host of an AI and creativity event — and the proud winner of the inaugural DMA Gold award for Best use of AI.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s been a steep learning curve — and my journey continues. I still have so much to learn in a field that is, by definition, evolving all the time.

As I type this, AI is being used to create art, design products, write news articles, script ads and make music. By the time you read this, it’ll probably be doing more.

Its creative potential is massive. To be honest, it blows my mind most weeks.

The projects I’ve worked on with Tiny Giant, including creating the world’s first AI gin, building an AI festival curator and crafting AI poetry, have taught me that AI can push creative boundaries and take our thinking in new directions.

But the biggest lesson I’ve learnt is that AI can be our creative partner. It’s not always a threat or a competitor. It can actually help us creatives to do better and more inspired work.

That’s why I started this blog.

Over the next weeks and months, I’m on a mission to help more creatives tap into the power of creative AI.

I’ll be celebrating amazing work in this space, sharing creative AI tools, demystifying terms, calling out the B.S. and also documenting my own creative AI and coding adventures (I’ve just started coding).

You see, in my mind, creative AI shouldn’t just lie in the hands of computer scientists or those working for the tech giants.

I believe that more creatives should be able to explore, play and push themselves with creative AI technologies (even if they can’t code).

I also believe that we need knowledge. Not just so we can future-proof ourselves, but so we can use technology to create amazing things right now. And do it responsibly.

If you’re keen to push your creativity and to embrace AI as a creative partner, rather than a fearsome competitor, do come and join me.