The Recipe
As I get older, one of the things I miss the most is my Popo’s (grandma’s) cooking – particularly because no one in my family has been able to recreate any of her recipes, even after following her recipe cards to the T.
The main reason why is because, like many seasoned cooks, my Popo knew the recipes and ingredients so well that her cooking was all about intuition and taste.
The AI Disruptor
Over the past few years, AI has been taking the creative industry by storm and ruffling more than a few feathers in the process. Whether you are an avid proponent or critic of it, the truth is that AI is a major disruptor, and will forever change the landscape of the creative industry moving forward.
With that said, a real and growing fear amongst many independent artists, freelancers and creatives is the fact that AI is able to not only “see” but “steal” the very recipes they’ve spent their entire careers (maybe even lives) not only perfecting, but fighting to protect.
Put simply, it’s the equivalent of a Master Chef giving away his entire recipe book….eventually everyone would not only be able to cook his food, but potentially repackage and brand it as their own, thus eliminating the need to patronize his restaurant.
But here’s the thing: just like my Popo’s recipes, even when we followed them to the T, the taste was never quite the same. And the same could be said for AI: while it can “study” and scan every technique and even replicate award-winning compositions and designs to the T, it ultimately lacks the heart and soul of the human creator.
The Secret Ingredient
In other words, just like her recipe cards could tell us the exact ingredients and the measurements to use, it could never explain why Popo added extra garlic to her fried rice just because she “felt” it needed it, or let her curry simmer just a few minutes longer because she was too busy talking story with us to bother turning off the stove. The secret wasn’t in her recipes or even the quality of her ingredients, it was her years of experience, taste and love that gave her cooking a life of its own.
In the same way the best designs are ones that are led by experience, intuition and emotions, based on the highs and lows of our shared human experience – it’s these emotions and creative intuition that AI will never be able to recreate.
The truth is, not everyone will care enough to choose the human-made version over the AI-generated one, and that’s okay. But in our evolving world of technology and homogenized branding, for the ones who do value authenticity, community and connection, that difference will be the one thing that matters most. – JZ