For a very long time, the creative industry was considered impregnable by the onslaught of artificial intelligence. Jobs that required human creativity, such as writing, creative art, and making music, seemed unreachable for AI.

However, recent advancements in AI technology have completely shattered this perception. With the rise of AI writing tools, AI image generators, AI music generators, and AI video generators, the very foundation of the creative industry seems to be facing an existential threat.

The Changing Nature of Jobs

Not too long ago, the "rise of the machines" was the stuff of science fiction. The idea that AI could take our jobs at a fast pace and at a massive scale was dismissed as something that can only happen in the very distant future. However, it seems we have somehow sleep-walked our way into that future.

Take industrial manufacturing for example. Assembly line workers responsible for putting together cars and electronic parts have been rapidly replaced by AI-powered robots, that, in a lot of cases, have significantly outperformed their human analogs.

Another compelling example is the rapid encroachment of AI-powered chatbots in the field of customer service, a domain once thought to be better with a bit of human empathy. With the complex nature of customer support services, AI chatbots are rapidly emerging as a cost-effective solution for resolving customer requests in the shortest possible time.

Most of the successes that AI has scored have been in fields that do not require an enormous amount of creativity. Up until now, AI has only been suitable for use in fields with a clear-cut operational formula, without the need to think on the go.

But with the rise of large language models—like OpenAI’s GPT and Google’s LaMDA, which are capable of creativity or at least simulating creativity—the creative job market is on the precipice of a drastic change.

Which Creative Fields Will Artificial Intelligence Disrupt?

Artificial Intelligence is already eating its way into the creative field, but which creative fields are likely going to be impacted?

Creative Writing

The once elusive art of creative writing is already seeing its fair share of AI disruption. We all thought machines will never be able to weave words with the eloquence of a human writer. We couldn't have been more wrong.

Things have changed so drastically that journalists, content writers, copywriters, and book authors are now in competition for their jobs with AI content generators like ChatGPT and Bing AI.

AI-apocalypse story written by ChatGPT

The chilling story in the screenshot above was entirely generated using ChatGPT. It may have a few flaws, but the story is as good a story as most human writers will come up with. But stories aren't the only thing AI tools like ChatGPT can write. It can write copies for web pages, product descriptions, and entire books from scratch—all with impressive eloquence.

With this in mind, it isn't hard to imagine that in the not-so-distant days ahead, AI tools like ChatGPT and Bard AI might be the preferred content writing tools by a lot of employers, even if human writers are still kept on the roster.

Making Music

Music production has always been considered one of the most creative and intricate fields, seemingly beyond the grasp of AI. While progress has been admittedly slow on this front, AI-generated music is getting scarily good.

Progress recorded by companies like OpenAI in its Jukebox AI project, and Google in its MusicLM project shows the future of AI-generated music. Although the very idea of outsourcing music-making to AI is a bit too "artificial", it is the reality we face.

The SoundCloud-hosted song above was made by OpenAI's Jukebox music generator. Sure, it is not entirely a masterpiece. However, considering the current pace of development in the field, we imagine it won't take long before AI systems catch up. And when they do, making music might be as demystified as typing a text prompt into an AI-powered tool while it spits out music on demand.

Lyrics written by ChatGPT

Already, AI text generators can produce impressive lyrics in almost every major genre of music. The lyric in the screenshot above was created entirely by AI. It isn't entirely farfetched to imagine a piece of Grammy-nominated music being made by an AI system.

Photography and Graphic Design

Creating an image worth a second look requires some creativity and technical know-how. You'll typically need to know how to use tools like Adobe Photoshop or a professional camera. You'll also need some creative ideas if you want to make something worthwhile. This is precisely why people pay for people to take pictures and create graphic designs.

However, with the rapid encroachment of text-to-image generation tools like DALL-E and Midjourney, creating an image becomes as simple as describing what you want to see. Want to see a kid flying an airplane? How about an image of the Eiffel Tower in the middle of the desert? The odds are if you can imagine it, AI image generators can create it.

This represents an enormous challenge for human creatives.

Various different AI-generated images made with DALL-E

The above images were created using DALL-E. While today's text-to-image generation tools are not perfect, it provides a glimpse into a future where creatives in the field of photography and graphic design face an existential threat from even more powerful AI image generators.

No Industry Is Safe From AI Disruption

We have always created arbitrary benchmarks to highlight our uniqueness as humans—that no matter how advanced machines become, they'll never be able to replicate human creativity.

Perhaps in an instinctive need for self-preservation, we've become a bit too dismissive of the potential of technology. We've underestimated our ingenuity as humans to create machines that surpass us. While it isn't entirely clear how much of a disruption AI will cause in the creative space, this much is certain; even creative jobs are not safe from the threat of AI.