Charlie and Corben’s crusade against the increasing use of artificial intelligence in creative work – which we feature on Page 6 of the Holderness and East Riding edition this week – has struck a chord with me.
The two young men have been looking at the way AI is being used by businesses in Withernsea for advertising, design and other creative work, and asking what that means for the people who have spent years building careers in those industries.
I have to say I agree with a great deal of what they’re saying.
AI can be a very useful tool. Used properly, it can save time, help with research, organise information and make all sorts of everyday tasks easier.
But there is a huge difference between using AI as a tool to help people and using it to replace them.
That is particularly relevant to us at the Gazette because we employ experienced and qualified designers, and we work with professional photographers whose skills have been developed over many years.
Good design is about far more than typing a few words into a box and asking a computer to make something attractive. A designer understands typography, balance, space, colour, branding, the audience and, perhaps most importantly, what the person paying for the work is actually trying to achieve. They can also produce work in the right format and resolution so it is reproduced as faithfully as possible and editable in the future.
The same goes for photography. A professional photographer understands light, composition, timing and how to tell a story through an image. These are skills, not simply buttons that somebody presses.
And when businesses decide that AI can do all of that instead, there is a real consequence.
Someone who has spent years developing those skills potentially loses work and income.
There is also something about much of the AI-generated material appearing everywhere now that I find a bit depressing. You can spot so many of these posters almost immediately. They have that same glossy, over-produced appearance, with the same style of lettering – and don’t get me started on the food ones.
It is getting to the point where it makes me yearn for the days of Microsoft Word clipart.
There is a serious point behind the joke, though, and it is the one Charlie and Corben are making.
Small businesses regularly encourage people to shop locally and support independent traders, but this should also mean supporting the people who provide professional services within those communities.
If you need an advert designing, a poster producing, photographs taking or promotional material creating, there are people locally who do those things for a living – including here at the Gazette.
Human creativity, experience, expertise and time may cost more, but losing it is too big a price to pay.
