Command-save.
He pauses, fingers hooklike over the keyboard, poised to launch yet another grim traipse through the usual subjects, the usual suspects, the usual rant.
Instead, he types a prompt: “Out of sheer curiosity, conduct a 10-second survey of how many articles are currently online talking about the grim future of advertising, the negative impact of AI, the loss of creativity and originality, and similar dystopia.”⠀
The answer flies back at the speed of AI:⠀
“A broad global search reveals over 140,000 indexed articles, essays, trade publication pieces, and forum threads covering the ‘creative cliff,’ the ‘zero-creative future,’ ‘junior talent starvation,’ and ‘commoditization leading to marginalization.’ There are also recent forecasts from Forrester and Gartner anticipating high-cost reversals of AI-related staffing cuts, with Forrester predicting that half of AI-attributed layoffs will be reversed in a mandatory drive to restore quality, impact, and client satisfaction.”“
So, what you’re saying,” he asks, “is that if I keep writing about misery and unhappiness, I’m whistling past the same gravestones?”
“That position is widely represented.”
He stares at the blinking cursor.⠀
“So what,” he wonders, “if I write about an alternative universe? One with a renewed appreciation of creativity? A shared demand for originality? A deep understanding of the difference between simulating human experience and actually living it? And that storytelling isn’t some cheap ornament on a résumé or an agency capabilities pitch, but a powerful engine of growth?”⠀
“That,” replies AI, “would be more unique.”⠀
“And what if it’s a place where we use technology and media to give people the room and the reasons to think and feel? Where what we make creates an emotional connection? Along the way, making it fun and interesting again, giving young talent a pathway into the business and our most experienced a reason to stay? And AI isn't the Grim Reaper, but a valued tool?“
“Not the same graveyard at all.”⠀
“And if I were to add that, in this universe, agencies that grow a spine will find themselves surprisingly able to withstand the forces pushing them to become slop factories, crap generators, technology wannabes, or just plain irrelevant?”
“Again, that would be something different.”⠀
He pauses, realizing that what he’s describing isn’t an alternative universe at all.
It’s a choice.⠀
He presses save.
