AI adoption is a new kind of pandemic for creative media types

The second shake-up of the 2020s

I was getting in my steps for a workplace walk challenge when I ran into a friend from a previous media job who was struggling to blow off steam. The past three weeks were full of panic and sorrow after learning she was one of hundreds informed that their job at Bell Media would be relocated to a suburban office in Toronto—which for some would require two hours of transit commuting each way.

The staff were left wondering how much this was about extracting shareholder value at the telecom giant, as they figure the strategy is to get enough of the staff to quit while sparing Bell from costly layoff packages. She recounted to me that an employee at the large staff meeting wondered aloud “What happens if we just don’t go?” and met with a callous reply from the company CEO: “We’ll replace you.”

Our conversation inevitably turned to artificial intelligence and how she’s seeing many jobs being she thinks are being replaced by AI systems, particularly in the graphics department. The replacement process seems to be already underway and relocation is just another strategic phase of a broader technological transformation.

We’ve read about how the New York Times was cutting art and production jobs in favour of technological advances, so her predicament isn’t a surprise. Still, this trend has me thinking about how the creative industry can internalize these changes and—dare I say—adapt to the challenges we are all facing in some way or another.

Thinking back to the onset of COVID-19, I wonder whether we can think of AI as another viral experience on a similar scale. When the effects of the pandemic arrived, messaging was communicated, action was taken, and changes were made swiftly. Why people were so compliant and eager to talk about making adjustments could be because the solutions were external like buying things, which tends to be the developed world’s reflex in a time of crisis. Wear a mask, stock up on hand sanitizer, buy a Peloton to work out at home, find a sourdough starter, watch The Tiger King… We had visible and vocal authorities telling us what to do.

But when it comes to AI there’s a conspicuous lack of clear advice on what actions we can take in the face of a readily articulated threat. Instead, this solution requires that we look inward and come to terms with what is our creative purpose, and re-evaluate the values we hold. How can we adjust our paths to evade this careening bulldozer coming for us all, or is there a way that creatives take the wheel?

Pandemics don’t need to be biological viruses—there’s now a loneliness epidemic, digital media addictions, a mistrust of media, anxiety about the climate. So, if we treat AI like a comparable event that can significantly change the way humanity works, socializes and creates, then maybe more of us will understand how to deal with it.

I’m not saying my friend has any chance against a corporation that wants to replace her with a system that’s faster, cheaper and more efficient, any more than the rest of us do. But if we face AI and its potential impact on creative industry, and acknowledge what it can and cannot do, we can learn to adapt, survive and thrive.