“AI-generated content will dominate advertising soon but […] human creativity in storytelling and high art will endure longer, delaying full automation.” (Kelly1)
This is a quote from Forbes magazine from an article published April 25th of this year. A quote that seems relatively innocuous at first, but sort of burrows its way into my soul, making me itch with its audacity.
What do they mean, “delaying full automation?”
Are they saying that in time AI will replace high art and storytelling, but because us stubborn humans are in the way it will take a little longer? It reeks of the sort of capitalist dystopia one would read about in Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle.” The foreman and factory owner not stopping the meat grinder just because a measly human finger fell in with the sausage. You can’t stop the factory; that would be inefficient!
Of course, I imagine the author of this article, Jack Kelly, is well aware of the irony of them writing a piece about how ‘writing a piece’ will soon be replaced by AI. Frankly, I don’t blame them, it’s the new thing; the hot topic that everyone is buzzing about, especially in a journal like Forbes. Whatever his motivations I am sure that they will do little to change the outcome of the future.
What future is that? I don’t think anyone really knows. If you google search for ‘AI job replacement,’ you will find myriad articles citing numbers ranging from 30% full replacement to just 19% of jobs having the loose characteristic of being highly exposed (Kelly1, Kochhar2). Some say it’s happening in a decade; some in a few decades, but almost everyone agrees that AI is going to change the landscape about us. The innovator’s tool kit will expand and pave new inroads into the future, while data centers, information hubs, and financial systems will increase in efficiency. Automation will be the new watch word as the world transforms around us. A revolution in real time; much like the industrial revolution before us. The problem with revolutions is, not everyone gets to come out on the other side of the change. Artists and writers being one of the least likely groups to see the other side of the transformation tunnel.
Yet, so many people, including those that write these ‘AI articles’ tend to think AI (which is really a misnomer because it’s really just machine learning) is nothing but an inherent good. That any negative outcomes are just a symptom of change and that in time we will come out on the other side of that change bursting with rainbows and smiles. I, for one, am skeptical, but that doesn’t stop people from telling me why my skepticism is just fear mongering.
The most common argument I have heard against my dislike of AI is, “You are just like those who were afraid of the train.”
Maybe so, but the invention of the train, and I am going to take some liberty and say industrialization as a whole, brought about massive and sometimes disruptive shifts to the world we knew. Of course, many of those differences were of a good variety. Hell, I would literally be dead if it weren’t for some of those changes. That still doesn’t alter the fact that not all of them were great. Not when you look at it from the perspective of the artist, or the ethicist, and even, in some instances, the pragmatist.
Industrialization increased resource usage exponentially, fueling climate change, cities became urbanized to an almost dystopian degree, and the traditional agrarian lifestyle faded into the past just to name a few drawbacks. The engines of progress are literally driving us towards a potential social and climactic disaster that could doom us all. Now, it is unfair to lump AI in with the cause of excessive coal use and overpopulation, but there is something to be said about the effects of world-changing technology. It’s like that old saying, “We spent so long asking if we could, we never stopped to ask if we should.”
Then there is the artist in me that thinks of the poetic loss from the industrialization of the world. The magic of the unknown, of the wild, becoming easier to traverse and overcome. In so doing making yet another piece of Earth’s grandeur become slightly less so. For lack of a better phrase, ‘the magic died a little more.’
Yes, I know that the last bit is not a great argument against using technology, but when has art needed to win arguments? It’s the distillation of human experience in some creative medium. For me to express to others how I feel about something is in itself art. So, yes, I do feel like the ‘magic dying a little more,’ is a loss, even if you can’t quantify it.
I think it’s also important to note that I am not entirely against AI. In fact, some of the uses—or potential uses—are the type of change our species might need to keep on going. Like the implementation of automation tools to enhance efficiency in redundancy style jobs. Or using pattern recognition to help doctors more accurately diagnose cancers. And last but not all, plotting more efficient flight paths and trajectories for spacecraft so that we may reach the stars. Those are just a few of the potential changes, and I am all for it.
What I am against though, is AI replacing the arts or, hell, even AI replacing the human touch, no matter how inefficient it is. Take the beauty of an organic farm and compare its output with that of the industrial farming behemoths that feed the world. Yes, the industrial farm far outproduces the organic, but it lacks something quintessentially human. After all, agriculture is a human invention. To grow is to connect with our ancestral past, but I dare say that, to grow in an industrial setting might be straying from that connection. I know we need that monster to feed our burgeoning population, but it still lacks the idyllic quality that so many of us yearn for. You can’t look at the rows and rows of perfectly symmetrical corn in a circle fed by a spinning irrigation complex and feel connected to our ancestors—to nature.
That’s not even mentioning the societal impacts AI might render. Both Kelly, Kochhar, and, I’m sure, their contemporaries all argue that AI will replace a large number of jobs. At the very least, AI will affect or supplement new jobs to the point that it will change the career landscape. So, what’s the problem with that? What’s wrong with robots helping or supplanting their less efficient creators?
Well, when a capitalist is steering it, it’s going to be very hard to convince them to support those displaced by that job loss. Even if they do and we all put the destitute on some sort of universal basic income, what’s going to happen to all those people now forced into a life relatively devoid of purpose? We can all hope it will be a land of peace and prosperity, but people never do well when they are bored.
Now, I am not trying to stop AI or even tell you not to support it. It’s going to happen. AI is coming whether you like it or not, damn the consequences. Ironically, it’s the very facets of humanity that will bring about the potential killer of the human experience. Our constant desire to push boundaries, our tenacity and drive, and our relentless pursuit of the unknown will force us to use whatever tool that is at our disposal, AI included. So, what am I driving at then?
Well, it’s simple really. You see, I have been worried about this beast known as AI for a couple of years now. The thoughts of the dystopian future of automation and soulless efficiency making me lose sleep and possibly heart beats. But recently, I went on a vacation and shared my feelings with my father. He agreed with my points, especially in regards to the arts; however, at the end of it all, he said something so simple and yet so true. Something that literally let me feel relief from the fear I have had over the last few years, “Yeah AI might replace art, but the photograph replaced the portrait artist. People still pay to have their portrait done.”
That was it. At first, I wanted to scoff and say, “You are underestimating the danger here!” But I held my tongue. Maybe it was because it was my father, maybe because I sensed the hidden truth behind it. It’s not like I hadn’t heard similar arguments before, but this one was somehow more profound. So, I let the statement simmer within my mind, and I came to the simple realization that he was right.
People literally pay BIG bucks to have their portrait hand painted by a human. So much so that it is generally considered a luxury item. Which in a world where everyone has a camera with unprecedented image quality, that’s saying something. Yes, the artist and the writer will need to adapt to a future in which AI replaces some aspects of the arts, but humans will still be there.
Look at the caricature artist that hangs out at the boardwalk of popular vacation destinations. Ultimately, they are portrait artists, just ones adapted to a world that has myriad apps ready to plaster a funny face on your camera. Still, people sit down and have a moment. A shared experience with another person that in the end makes them laugh, makes them feel. Yeah, AI can do that already, but it won’t be human. It won’t have that quintessential touch that we all recognize; that human experience. Artists will survive, because the consumers will be human, and though it will be a far different landscape than it is now, people are always going to crave human experiences.
Now, I don’t know what will happen with the other societal impacts of AI, but I can say that I at least feel more comfortable and more hopeful about the future of the arts. All because one of the most important people in my life, my dad, told me two simple sentences. Years of worry stilled almost overnight. Let’s see AI do that!
References:
- Kelly, Jack. “Jobs AI Will Replace First As AI Takes Over the Workplace.” Forbes, April 25th 2025, www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2025/04/25/the-jobs-that-will-fall-first-as-ai-takes-over-the-workplace/.
- Kochhar, Rakesh. “Which U.S. Workers Are More Exposed to AI on Their Jobs?” Pew Research Center, July 26th 2023, https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2023/07/26/which-u-s-workers-are-more-exposed-to-ai-on-their-jobs/
Thank you all for reading! Stay tuned next week for more shorts and tidbits from me.
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