We surveyed our artistic community what they're doing with AI. This is what we found out.

Aug 16, 2023

Those questions - usually about fears of robot lords and a complete absence of imagination and culture or both - are fair. But despite those concerns, AI has already woven its way into the workflows of people all over the world and has shown no sign of slowing down. So what does that translate to creative work and those who create it?

Anyone in the creative field will inform you, the human aspect which is the ability to express emotion, imagination, meaningful art - is inaccessible to machines. The tech also can't brainstorm or think up ideas without human input and is positioned, nearly through necessity, as tools instead of complete replacements. "It's an endless stream of manuals and trial and error" photographer Rachel Hulin.

The new era of AI generative can undoubtedly change how we operate, however, when used thoughtfully, might not necessarily be in contrast to the artistic disciplines. To test this theory, we surveyed creatives from across the community who have begun to dabble in AI and to discover how they're using it now and how they see it impacting their work in the future. Here's what we heard from them and the picture it paints for what's to come from AI within the world of creative work.

 AI has been able to power solo creative work

Like any filmmaker will inform you, making films (or in reality, any other piece or piece of material) is an art that requires collaboration. Films require input from people with special skills and are the result from an amalgamation of thoughts. However, for a lot of independent filmmakers, AI is opening a new world of possibilities for filmmakers to create and write the projects of their own, completely independently.

By creating his own script and after which he created short video clips by using AI technology, which synchronized with his vision, Paul could build out an original animated and visually enthralling Staff Picked video, by sifting through visually appealing content digitally.

 AI has changed our visual language

Since AI imagery - at least for now - possesses an uncanny valley-like quality (a term meant to describe the unease you feel whenever you look at a computer-generated image that's just not right) This makes it very easy to spot. In our discussions, we found that filmmakers frequently gravitated toward images created by AI because due to this particular characteristic.

For Paul Trillo, being able create the latest short on his own was an excellent method of executing a plan with limited resources. However, it was also the artistic nature of the film that made him want to utilize the tech. "In the sense that the use of AI to present you with choices is very similar to direct," he says. "It gives you aberrations and happy accidents - things which aren't influenced, and are just interesting elements to lean into."

"I was looking to tap into the natural style that AI videos are creating instead of pushing against it. Right now, it's more intriguing as its own aesthetic."   Paul Trillo, Filmmaker

Chris Carboni was the one who employed an early version of MidJourney to animate the charming "HAIRY POUTER" Also, AI was a fan of the bizarre ways of interpreting his concept. "We were awestruck by the aesthetics that it could come up with in only a couple of rounds of making new images" Chris adds. Chris.

"We allowed the AI really come up with these interesting interpretations, and when we found one we liked We pushed it to follow that thread in order to be consistently entertaining and just easy to understand."

"It's an exciting time," says Laen Sanches. "It's a fresh playground to discover new ways of telling my tales. It's a journey of new methods, tools, and thrilling problems."

 AI will free up more space for creativity

In almost every conversation we observed that folks we spoke to loved using AI as a means to stay away from the boring work that being full-time creatives demands - allowing them to get back to the things which matter the most.

Multimedia producer Romke Hoogwaerts relies on AI to work effectively, whatever the project. "I utilize AI for general automation of busywork," says Romke. "I've been using it for writing business emails, providing quotes to clients, and so on. AI will always be most effective at doing the bulk lifting for simple tasks."

Chris Carboni, too, uses AI to keep his inbox clean and projects in order. "I am a huge fan of making use of AI to enhance my emails as well as to act as a personal assistant, capable of responding to questions, explaining complicated concepts as well as handling repetitive tasks."

 AI can be described as a software, not a new talent

In all our discussions that we had, we discovered common ground between our film and creative professionals in the use of AI in order to increase and improve - not replace - work. "I'm trying to look at the issue as more than "They're taking away my job and I'm losing my job,'" says Jordan. "It's more of a "Ok, so what am I going to do do with it in the present What can I do with it now?'"

Rachel Hulin, for example, used AI to replicate the look of a camera whose tech was lost to time: "One of my favorite cameras isn't available anymore however I'm able to use AI to recreate the same analogue aesthetic."

Jordan Clarke, who works predominantly as an director and animator, made use of AI to become more familiar in the art of writing. "I've always been a bit nervous to write," he says. "So it was like"well, when I write using the AI, I can utilize it for creative tool."

Many creators are eager to investigate the new technologies that are available, AI has become a method of expanding into areas that would otherwise not be possible - rather than simply duplicating or replacing processes.

"There are both good to use it," Paul adds. "For the majority of people, it's really producing work that could never be possible before. It's opening a portal to this world of things that would never have been possible." Others, AI is simply offering an opportunity for artists to tell their stories, which they've longed to tell all along.