Creativity at Scale

AI and the Human Struggle to Create

Over the weekend there was a daring art heist at the Louvre. Would we care if the art had been created by AI?

This question was asked at the Battle of Ideas, during a debate on whether AI art can ever be human. The artists in the room felt that humans would always value the struggle to create. The technologists countered that there will come a time when you cannot tell who or what did the creating.

The Louvre jewels have historic as well as aesthetic value. They are priceless as a whole, but might already be sold off in parts. A piece of French culture could be lost forever.

AI cannot replace history, but it will define what comes next. The real debate is whether AI remains a tool or becomes a replacement.

Theft and Iteration

Pablo Picasso said that art is theft. T.S. Eliot said immature poets imitate, mature poets steal. Every artist, entrepreneur and innovator is a reflection of their influences. The best of them put a unique twist on what came before.

This is how most innovation happens. The entrepreneur who believes they’ve invented something revolutionary usually hasn’t done their research. The most successful innovations are improvements on a theme. Exhibit one, the iPhone.

In Breakneck, Dan Wang describes China as a culture of engineers and the US as one of lawyers. China excels in process engineering. Curiosity and competition drive continuous improvement in manufacturing, to levels beyond those in the West. Exhibit two, the iPhone again, which can now only be manufactured in China.

Genuine new knowledge is rare. It demands imagination and the spark to see something before it exists. Peter Higgs imagined the bosun that bears his name 40 years before it was proven. Before his death he admitted he wouldn’t get a job in modern academia because he didn’t publish enough.

In business, there is no time to wait for inspiration. Each client interaction offers an opportunity to iterate, to experiment, improve and refine. The artist who never experiments produces nothing unique. AI offers that same opportunity at scale.

The Taylor Swift Principle

Taylor Swift is the world’s biggest music artist. Part of her appeal is sheer productivity. Few fans could name her collaborators, but no one doubts her authorship. Swift is an artistic enterprise and a living brand that stands for something recognisable and human.

Every business should do the same and stand for something with just enough difference to stand out.

In five years, some of Swift’s creative team may be replaced by AI. In ten, a neural implant could extend her creativity beyond its natural lifespan. Betting that art can never be human is a wager no one can win.

The artist or business that does not evolve will stagnate. Experimentation, even in small doses, is what keeps creation alive.

From Slop to Sophistication

Most AI art today is forgettable because it pulls from everything and aims for the middle. If you use any mass-market product, you already know that it trends toward the lowest common denominator.

Each weekday, The Deep View asks readers to spot the real photo between two images, one human, one AI-generated. The result is consistently a coin toss. AI in skilled hands already fools us, and those who learn to master it are redefining the creative frontier.

The key to using AI is differentiation. Build systems trained on your own processes, your own tone and your own craft. Pay for models you can customise. The people who dismiss AI will soon be irrelevant, while those who master it will no longer need to explain themselves.

The Human Signature

We may always prefer art that a human struggled to produce. Yet the forger and the apprentice suffer as much as the old master. In the end, it’s the brand name that creates value. It’s the signature that tells us where meaning resides.

AI won’t erase what it means to be human, but it will expose who’s willing to evolve. Those who use it as a tool for refinement, not replacement, will create the next generation of art, business and innovation worth stealing.

Questions to Ask and Answer

1. Do your customers reward innovation or compliance?

2. What is your brand’s one point of differentiation?

3. Are you using AI to experiment?