The real opportunity in creative AI: deepening human creativity

We’re on the cusp of a paradigm shift brought about by generative AI, but it’s not about making creativity “quick and easy.” Generative technology opens up new heights of human expression and helps creators find their authentic voices.

How we create changes. The blog you read earlier today was made possible with generative AI. Within 10 years, most creative content will be produced using generative technologies.

The idea of ​​using AI systems to create content is anything but new. By the 1980s, David Cope had already created EMI (Experiments in Musical Intelligence), which composed music in the style of Bach and Vivaldi, and Harold Cohen showed artwork created by his system, AARON.

What’s new is the long-awaited introduction of this technology from the ivory towers of academia to the consumer market. Perhaps the biggest push in the industry came from OpenAIwith a B2B approach that shares its large, multifunctional generative models with a wide range of startups.

Some of the most popular are Copy.AI and Jasper, which focus on simplifying marketing copy writing, but GPT-3 also sends stories, news articles (don’t worry, not this one!) name a few. The upcoming release of DALL-E 2a powerful text-to-image generator, will further expand the possibilities for business entrepreneurs looking to join the revolution without having to develop their own technical IP.

While OpenAI provides businesses with versatile technology, there are startups that provide value to consumers. What is the role of generative AI in our daily lives? What impact will it have on humanity in general and our creative expression in particular? What do consumers actually want from creative generative AI?

Deepening Human Creativity

It is true that generative methods can be aimed at reducing job opportunities for creative people, allowing larger companies to earn a few extra dollars. But what I’m arguing here is that this is actually a relatively weak opportunity. There are plenty of creatives already working for (more than) reasonable fees, and competing with the quality of their work remains very challenging for autonomous AI systems.

Generative AI can be put to better use than destroying jobs. Humans have a deep need to express themselves, and we will continue to express ourselves until the end of time. Consequently, the real opportunity in creative, generative technology lies in deepening human creativity. The original goal of the creators of generative AI, including David Cope and Harold Cohen in the 1980s, was precisely to enrich their own creative expression.

Since then, academics and tech-savvy artists have built systems to generate music, art, and everything in between to enrich their own creative process. This is how creative AI has been used since its inception, and this is where its true potential lies.

I’ve tackled the commercialization of generative AI since before the popularization of large generative models. My team and I have been developing new experiences from the start, from the development of the generative AI models to the smallest UI/UX decisions. This enabled us to gain an in-depth understanding of user needs in this emerging domain.

A partner in creativity

Identifying the most important user need – the desire for deeper self-expression – made all the difference. Users don’t want ‘quick and easy’. They want to go deeper into themselves, find the right words to express how they feel. They want to be better artists, but only in a way that comes from finding new depths in their own unique creative expression.

Generative AI as a partner to help us find our authentic voice may seem like a contradiction. But other technological advances – from electric pianos and Photoshop to digital audio workstations and Canva – have always been used to expand human expression. Generative AI systems are no different. Acting as a creative partner, generative AI is best positioned as a personalized guide to help us discover new layers of creative expression that lie dormant within ourselves.

Before we wrap up, one last piece of advice. I love what OpenAI is doing for the industry. But I also want to encourage startups in space not to shy away from your own AI. OpenAI is powerful, but it is also general purpose and not ideal for a specific application. For each unique domain, specialized generative technology can make a world of difference to the user experience. It will also make your startup much more defensible against competition.

Seize the opportunity

Technology has long been used to speed up tasks and eliminate labor. We may have forgotten that these were never the only goals of computer innovation. When it comes to generative AI, the opportunities are a lot bigger. We have the opportunity to take human creativity to new heights.

The marriage of generative AI with the creators’ thriving new ecosystem paves the way to a new world ripe with opportunities that can only be compared to the tech boom of the 1990s. The question is not whether generative AI will take over, but who will seize the opportunity early enough to shape the industry and reap the biggest harvest.

Maya Ackerman is the CEO and co-founder of Silicon Valley startup WaveAI.