Generative AI amplifies our creativity by producing striking images, extravagant videos, music, stronger written content and more without the user necessarily having all the skills or talent required to do it themselves. You might wonder, what’s wrong with using AI to do it? After all, you researched and came up with the idea, you just needed help with the output – the final rendering, the creative direction. When does using AI become a detriment to creativity?
There are countless forms of Generative AI software out there, it’s the new toy everyone wants to play with. So, if it’s available, what’s wrong with using AI to complete something if you’re not proficient with the software? The issue is – it’s not your work. While the idea may have been yours, the execution wasn’t.
Let’s say we wanted to impress the hiring managers for a radio station job in some marketing related capacity. Let’s imagine that our plan was to create something that we could leave behind after the interview to entice and impress them with our creativity. After searching for different AI platforms to generate something unique, we chose Suno. Suno is a platform from a team of musicians and AI experts from Cambridge, MA. It allows you to create music without knowing how to play any instruments or having any production knowledge. With imagination as our guide, we asked Suno to make a grunge song about being the right one for a job and in a matter of minutes, it was ready.
Click the play button below to hear the song " The Right One " created with Suno.
Delegating CreativityIf you've heard it, it could be on the radio on some Canadian alternative radio station, right? By using AI to produce this from a brief description from our imagination, while it succeeded and it is creative – the final product isn’t really ours – is it? When you delegate creativity to an application, your involvement in the creative process ends there. Sure, it's fun to use, but will you get that feeling when someone nods and appreciates your work?
With all the different applications AI can transform any idea and make it seem brand new. It allows you to enhance your creativity, and create things that you aren’t capable of, but what are you giving up? Is the vision still yours? Has the idea changed because of the integration of AI into the creative process? Could you reproduce your vision without AI? Here’s an instance where learning where and when to use Generative AI through an accredited course like the CMA’s Generative AI for Marketers could be useful.
If you’re going to create – then create. Have you considered using AI earlier in your creative process instead of relying on it to produce the final product? You could ask AI to provide you with some ideas for creative direction. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but the idea should be clear. If you need help, reach out to someone who has the skills that you don’t. If you need illustrations or realistic images, ask a graphic designer or an art director. If you need help writing copy, speak to a copywriter, or an aspiring writer. Whoever you collaborate with you can share credit for the concept and the final product.
Generative AI isn’t creative. It simply reproduces an idea that you entered in the prompt. So, while the application can do things you can’t, it still needs you to tell it what to do. You could always use gen AI earlier on to develop a clearer picture of what you want to produce. In a Forbes article called Will The AI Boom Hurt Creativity? Not If Humans Lead The Way, Nelson Granados says “Conceive and let the creative juices flow first, and then and only then use gen AI to help you enhance the output after idea generation.” [2]
AI can become a detriment if we use it to replace creativity instead of amplifying it. If you’re trying to strengthen your AI knowledge and understanding of its uses, the CMA Mastery Series: AI Playbooks is a free online resource that could help you use AI to your advantage. Peter Drucker an Austrian-born American management consultant, educator, and author once said, “The best way to predict the future is to create it” [1] so, maybe using AI isn’t an issue if it isn’t being relied on to complete all the creative work.
[1] “Peter F. Drucker” Britannica Money, 26 May 2025, https://www.britannica.com/money/Peter-F-Drucker
[2] “Will The AI Boom Hurt Creativity? Not If Humans Lead The Way” Forbes, 25 November 2024, https://www.forbes.com/sites/nelsongranados/2024/11/25/will-the-ai-boom-hurt-creativity-not-if-humans-lead-the-way/
Interested in learning more or getting familiar with Generative AI? Click here for some Generative AI guides from the CMA.
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Whether you want to learn to play guitar, become an art director, host a podcast or anything else, while you may find people to help you along the way, no one is going to push you to succeed.
