How to Stay Relevant in a World of AI
Artificial Intelligence will touch every industry in the coming years, just as the Internet has touched every industry over the past twenty years. Some industries will be transformed by AI more than others, such as content creation. If you create any kind of media content--be it books, music, videos, or artwork--you better be prepared for what's coming.
Think about what happened to the portrait painting industry when cameras were introduced. Do you know anyone who has had their portrait painted? I don't.
Do painters still exist? Of course they do! But camera technology has killed the market for portrait painting and other forms of photo-realistic painting. Painters still exist because they pivoted to painting abstract and surrealist scenes, which cameras cannot replicate.
As content creators, how can we pivot to create content that AI cannot replicate?
(Side note: AI has many flaws. Look at the cover image. Who holds a sword like that??)

1. Go even more abstract
AI systems generate pictures from word prompts. Make artwork that cannot be accurately described using words.
2. Break the rules
In all art forms, there are rules for what constitutes good art. Only true masters of each art form are able to break the rules and get away with it. One example that comes to mind: good writing has punctuation, unless you're Cormac McCarthy (I think his book The Road is a masterpiece... and the only punctuation it has are periods, and there are no names). AI uses rules to create "good" content. It is not in the nature of AI to break rules.
3. Go physical
AI is great at making digital content. Unless they start making AI-powered robots a-la Terminator, you're safe in making physical content.
4. Go out of bounds
There are limits to the size and shape of AI-generated work. For example, craiyon.com lets anyone generate AI artwork, but the results are always a 256x256 pixel square. Other AI content generators have similar limitations. Want to do something that the AI can't? Make artwork that's 4000 pixels tall and 500 pixels wide. Or make artwork in the shape of a star.
5. Have original recurring elements in all of your work
AI is great at creating one-off pieces of content, but terrible at tying recurring elements together over several pieces of content. For example, AI can generate a decent 200-word flash fiction story, but it can't generate a 60,000-word novel that makes sense. That's because it has trouble with keeping the recurring main characters and themes consistent. There's the same problem with images. Good luck getting an AI to generate 10 pictures of the exact same tattooed barbarian princess in different poses.
6. Use specialty media and formats
If all the AI art generators generate oil painting styles in JPG format, how about make your art as paper mache style in GIF format? If AI music generators create music clips in 16-bit audio for use in song tracks, maybe you can create 8-bit video game audio for use in virtual worlds.
7. Tell the story
In art, many times it's the story that sells it. AI-generated art has no story attached to it. When you create art as a human, emphasize the human elements. Tell your story. Are you selling the artwork to raise money for a child suffering from cancer? Was your video clip inspired by an epiphany you had while standing atop Mount Kilimanjaro? Or maybe your work was inspired by a box of Civil War medals you found in your great grandfather's attic?
8. Double down on your humanity
AI creates art without heart. It doesn't care about pleasing its fans. It doesn't exist in the real world. You are human and you live in the real world. AI cannot replicate that. So share your art with fans. Write about it on your blog. Connect with people and discuss your art at the coffee shop.
9. Personalize your creations
Take custom commissions. Add your signature techniques. Add some of your uniqueness to your creations, so when someone sees it, they say, "I know exactly who made that."
10. Do you have any more ideas?
I'm out of ideas for this topic. But as a content creator, I'd be very interested to hear your ideas if I missed any.
No comments.