Creative workers talk about how AI will impact their work

Artificial intelligence can generate lifelike images and videos, as well as human-looking text.

However, researchers say more than two-thirds of creative industry workers believe their job security is being compromised by AI.

Half of novelists are worried that AI will replace them.

What is your experience as an artist, videographer, musician, or copywriter?

“I really hate AI,” says Aisha Belarbi, a 22-year-old “fur artist” based in Norwich.

“It really goes against everything I do.”

She creates furry art (animals with human characteristics) using traditional methods and digital methods such as tablet computers.

She wasn't concerned about generative AI, which uses text prompts to create images, videos, and music, because she “thought it was just garbage.”

Things are different now because the output is better.

“I'm starting to worry because I've reached the point where I can't decipher what is AI art and what isn't.

“And a lot of people who aren't artists can't really understand that. I think that's the scariest thing.”

She stopped relying on commissions as her main source of income because “people are free to create what they want.”

Instead, to make a living, she diversified into writing books on how to draw.

“My livelihood is at stake, and so are the livelihoods of many other people,” she added.

She worries that young artists, especially those working in digital media, are feeling “really discouraged.”

For her, art is not “something that is improvised,” but “people's life experiences” and “the time and energy it takes to create something great.”

But 67-year-old JP Allard believes that if Renaissance artist Michelangelo were alive, “he would be dabbling in AI by now.”

Mr Allard was running a traditional commercial video agency in Milton Keynes until about a year ago when he fell ill and took two weeks off work.

He said he “watched every YouTube video I could” and saw the potential of AI and decided the company “needed to take the leap.”

“It was a great honor to actually ride this new wave,” he says.

His business, MirrorMe, now uses AI to not only create “digital twins” (an analogue of video) that can represent businesses in “175 languages” for customers, but also to create ads that are entirely AI-generated.

Allard recalled that he had “staffing issues” with “several people” on his team resisting the changes and no longer working for him.

“The problem is the speed of change,” he added.

“It used to take five to six years to get rid of a typewriter and replace it with a word processor or computer.

“Now that happens a few months later.”

He said there wasn't enough re-education going on, but that was something “politicians have to think about”.

He says MirrorMe's product “replaces all forms of corporate media without the high overhead of production, filming, and post-production” and is much cheaper and faster than traditional videography.

He insists it's “real, it has heart, it has emotion.”

“There will always be Luddites and cynics, and there are plenty of examples of bad AI, but I think AI is just a tool, and in the hands of the right artists it can be compelling.”

Ross Stewart, a 21-year-old musician from Norwich, realized his fears about AI when his mother sent him an album to listen to.

“My family loves music, so we share a lot of music,” he recalls.

“She sent me the album and said, 'Why haven't I heard this before? It's amazing.'”

It turned out to be an “AI album” of blues music, according to Ross, and was “one of about 30 albums released by the artist this year.”

Among his concerns is “the sheer speed of being able to create a song in a minute,” which he says “poses a danger and impacts songwriters, producers and musicians.”

AI could be used to write lyrics, but he thinks that would be “blasphemy”.

“It's going to be a struggle, but I'll write the songs myself,” he added.

He said he is aware that advertisers are using AI-generated music instead of licensing songs from musicians.

It's about “removing exposure and revenue for potential artists who are trying to grow.”

He believes that the power of AI is improving and that it could “start to take away people's jobs, start to take away people's livelihoods.”

But Stewart, who has just finished his first UK tour, added: “People want authenticity.”

“People want to go to shows and see real people pick up guitars.”

When Milton Keynes-based copywriter Niki Tibble, 38, returned to work three years after giving birth, she realized that “AI had taken over my role”.

Niki has been a writer for eight years, working for online retailers and startups.

She went on maternity leave in 2022, when, she recalls, “I couldn't just type into the internet and say, 'Create a blog on X or Y.'”

But after returning to work earlier this year, he noticed that the AI ​​started taking on “smaller tasks” such as blogging, social media posts and writing emails for clients, which are now “almost gone.”

She says some clients still prefer the “human touch” and don't trust AI with strategy and research around things like customers, brand style and tone of voice to inform text.

She also found work as a “final check” for companies that use AI-generated copy.

This includes making sure AI isn't fabricating facts that don't exist (aka “hallucinations”), verifying sources, matching the company's “tone of voice,” and “adding value to AI.”

But thinking about how AI's capabilities will improve, she added: “I’m worried about whether my job will still be there in 10 years.

“I just don't understand.”