Is AI My Friend?
Background image courtesy of Ando - AI Copilot for Designers
AI is the new buzzword I keep hearing about. ChatGPT, Dalle, and Bard, to name a few. I also keep hearing how artists are extremely upset by AI. A major reason is they feel AI models learn from their existing artwork and breach copyright law.
The Bulgarian artist Alexander Nanitchkov commented: “Current AI ‘art’ is created on the backs of hundreds of thousands of artists and photographers who made billions of images and spend time, love, and dedication to have their work soullessly stolen and used by selfish people for profit without the slightest concept of ethics.”
Alex, I hear you! And let’s not even get into the fear of machines completely taking over our jobs, our lives, and our humanity.
On the other end of the spectrum, I keep hearing what a great tool it can be. I’ve been using Adobe Sensei for years behind the scenes in Photoshop for retouching images. I love it. Why? It has saved me an incredible amount of time. Time on production-based tasks that are not creative. I decided to stay open and check out a few AI chatbots for myself.
I’ve been testing out ChatGPT and Rytr for two tasks that I find challenging: copy and code. I’m pleasantly surprised! As a solopreneur, I’m finding it to be helpful. For copy, it didn’t give me exactly what I was hoping for. What it did give me was inspiration and ideas. A jumping-off point and a brainstorming session. Once I get savvier with prompting, maybe I’ll find what I’m looking for. For code, wow! I spend a lot of time searching the internet for CSS snippets I can add to my website to improve the design. ChatGPT rocked it! The chatbot gave me exactly what I was looking for in seconds. I didn’t have to go down a deep rabbit hole searching for it. In my eyes, this is tremendously valuable. Not only does it save me a lot of time, but it also gives me more creative time.
Takeaway
I’m not promoting AI by any means. After testing it out for myself, some personal fears around it have been alleviated. There are a multitude of ways it can be an asset to my design business. Mainly, by saving me time. Do I think AI can get out of control and become completely unethical? Yes. Do I think it can serve as a valuable tool to make our lives better? Yes. It’s already embedded in our lives behind the scenes. It’s up to us humans how we are going to use it.
