Welcome to average.

A future where all creative work will look, feel and smell the same. Or will it?

When it comes to building brand differentiation, AI can't compete with original thinking, innovation, creativity, and emotionally-led thought.

Don't get me wrong; AI will revolutionize many aspects of marketing and advertising. Advertisers are already using AI to identify and segment audiences, asset production, test ads, improve ad performance, and optimize spend—all automatically, in real-time, at scale. Anything that is an algorithm, repeatable, and has consistent human inputs, will be made over.

HOWEVER: If you want your brand to be different, stand out, or spark an emotion, you need humans.

Average people with average inputs.

One of the fundamental aspects of AI is its ability to learn from vast amounts of input data. Whether training a language model or developing an algorithm, AI relies on the information it receives - information humans deposit into the systems.

Stop for a second and understand the potential problem for brands: these inputs are from people who are looking for shortcuts to ideation, designing, writing, UI, art direction, or anything else.

And if the information fed into AI systems predominantly consists of average or mediocre work, it can perpetuate uninspired and unoriginal ideas.

Everything will look the same.

Today, everyone has the same access to the same technology, and therefore, all creative work will become the same. What difference will a brand have, then?

And nothing new and earth-changing will be created because the inputs are all old ideas.

Imagine a scenario where AI is primarily trained on books deemed average by human standards. These works lack depth, creativity, and innovation, yet they become the foundation upon which AI systems learn to generate new content. The outcome could be an AI that produces a continuous stream of bland, unremarkable creations.

Original thinking and innovation thrive when individuals challenge the status quo, push boundaries, and explore new possibilities. However, if AI systems are fed with average or subpar content, the potential for truly innovative ideas will be compromised, and mediocrity becomes acceptable.

Training

To address this issue, it is crucial to emphasize the importance of diverse and high-quality inputs in AI training. 

The danger of creating an AI that perpetuates mediocrity and stifles original thinking is a genuine concern. And for a brand trying to stand out from similar brands, this is the ultimate issue.