If I hear or read “AI won’t replace you, but someone using it will” one more time…!

Not because it isn’t true but because it completely misses the point for anyone who’s spent years building a creative skillset the hard way! It can feel passive-aggressive at best, and dismissive at worst.

Before I continue and just to be super clear, I agree with the sentiment. We don’t have a choice. If we want to remain competitive in any modern workplace, we have to understand, embrace and use AI in some way. That’s not a debate, it’s a fact.

But here’s what’s missing in all the LinkedIn hype posts and hot opinions: the emotional cost of integrating AI into creative work. And the deeply personal shift required when the tools you once used to express your creative vision and thoughts are suddenly doing the expressing for you. The creation of content is a deeply personal process. 

In my own work, AI has become a sort of sidekick. A forced embrace (initially, like a hug with someone you don’t really like but have to spend a lot of time with). But over the past few years I have learned to appreciate and use AI daily. As I’ve understood how to harness it, I’ve found it increasingly useful, sometimes even enjoyable.

We recently produced a fully AI-driven piece of creative content at PinPoint Media — from pre-production all the way through post. Did it feel “creative”? A hesitant yes, as it was so different from anything we’ve done before. But the results spoke for themselves. Significant time and budget savings and impressive video quality. We have been booked to work on a second video using the same process.

Fundamentally though, I can understand and can also see why using AI can feel like a punch in the stomach when a platform can produce a spellbinding video clip in mere seconds, when it would have taken a small army weeks, if not months, to brainstorm, plan, direct, shoot and edit to that level.

The sense of team, camaraderie and overwhelming pride that comes with that is incredible and so hard to beat. For creative teams and individuals using AI, it can feel like you’re cheating the process. Skipping steps. It’s almost like you’ve won your race without actually running. Appealing to some but not to others. The creative process dictates so much of the job satisfaction.

So how do we move forward?

At PinPoint Media, it’s still a Marmite topic amongst the team, but we’ve been using AI very successfully for nearly 3 years. I believe that one of the most successful ways we can integrate AI is by letting people lead their own adoption journey. Let teams explore, choose and master what fits their workflow. Education and experimentation is key. I know that this will help to move us from resistance to relevance.

Despite the speed, the savings, and the smartness of AI, there’s one thing it hasn’t replaced — and likely never will — and that’s human connection.

I have found that job satisfaction can still be found in the collaboration between individuals working on the project and receiving positive feedback from a client. No matter how much we automate, if the ideas still come from conversations, if the work still reflects what we hold in our mind’s eye, then creativity remains human at its very core.

We can gingerly hold on to what was. Human connection and emotion will always fuel creativity. AI or no AI.

We can hold on to that.

Jessica Barder, Head of Creative