Key Takeaways
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Not all creative software needs AI, and adding AI features can frustrate users.
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AI should be used as a tool when it can bring significant benefits to your software.
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Adding too many unnecessary features can make the interface difficult to use and create a poor user experience.
Just because it's AI doesn't mean it's automatically better, and not all creative software needs this technology. While there are cases where AI can be useful in creative software, there are some important things to consider before jumping into every new AI feature an app introduces.
1 You don't need to copy everything
One of the things that bothers me right now with AI is that every company seems to copy each other. We've seen this before, especially with social media, where everyone moved to short-form videos to keep up with TikTok. I've already talked about why social media platforms should focus on doing one thing well, and the same thing applies to AI.
I believe that companies that change the game simply because their competitors do it will automatically lose. Similarly, if you just copy someone else's prominent feature as a side idea, you can only hope to finish second at best. I understand that AI is all the rage among stakeholders and investors, but companies could probably make more profits and satisfy more customers if they were more original.
AI is a tool, and sometimes it's necessary, other times it's pointless. If creative software can greatly benefit from the introduction of new AI capabilities, that's great and I encourage companies to release them. But at the same time, simply adding features will only frustrate frequent users.
Personally, I'm getting a bit tired of seeing every app boasting about their latest AI release, even though I don't find the features released to be particularly useful. To succeed in an AI-dominated workplace, I recommend learning how to use AI, but it should only be a complement to human input.
3 AI is not the solution to all problems
Another thing I've noticed over the past few years is that people are celebrating AI as the solution to all their problems, but again, AI is just a neutral tool that should be used when it makes sense and left alone when it doesn't.
We strongly encourage the use of AI for some media editing, such as syncing audio with clips in video editing software, but we encourage you to use all tools when necessary, AI or not, and if you're an enterprise, we encourage you to think about where it really makes sense to bring in a new tool.
Four Too many features can make the interface look clunky
I find it much easier to use an app that has a streamlined interface that gives you everything you need and not much else. Too many features will inevitably make the app look clunky and perform poorly.
Again, it's fine to add new features when it makes sense, but don't do it at the expense of user experience – especially when your app starts to become difficult to use because of tools that most people don't want or will never use.
AI is certainly finding its place in the creative industries, but unlike many, I don't believe AI will make human jobs obsolete. In fact, I believe AI can be good if used properly. However, many of the newly released AI features are more of a gimmick than practical. I'm not asking companies to stop implementing AI, just to reconsider whether it's really necessary.
