AI Leading to New Tools, Job Cuts in Creative Industries

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to expand human creativity and enhance collaboration, but it may also lead to the disappearance of certain creative jobs.

The future impact of AI on creativity and job security remains uncertain, CNBC reported Wednesday (June 26).

Mira Murati, chief technology officer of OpenAI, said during a June 19 event that AI has the ability to expand human creativity, according to the report.

OpenAI’s tools, such as ChatGPT, can be used as a tool for collaboration and to enhance creative output. Murati believes that AI will lower the barrier for anyone to think of themselves as creative, opening up new possibilities for innovation, per the report.

However, the rise of AI also poses a potential threat to certain creative jobs, the report said. Murati acknowledged that some creative jobs may disappear but argued that if the content produced by these jobs is not of high quality, perhaps they shouldn’t have existed in the first place.

The question of whether AI can completely replace human creativity is complex, according to the report. Generative AI tools, which learn from patterns in datasets and generate new outputs based on user prompts, operate differently from human learning and creativity.

Theo Omtzigt, chief technology officer at Lemurian Labs, told CNBC in December 2023 that without a clear understanding of how humans learn and develop creativity, it is challenging to instill these qualities in an artificial system.

Despite this, generative AI tools are expected to disrupt certain industries, the report said. A report from McKinsey Global Institute suggests that by 2030, nearly 12 million workers in the United States may need to find new jobs due to the impact of generative AI. Office workers, customer service representatives and production workers are predicted to be among the most affected job categories.

In anticipation of AI’s potential impact, some members of the music industry, including artists like Billie Eilish and Nicki Minaj, signed an open letter calling for protections against the unauthorized use of their work to train AI models, according to the report. They expressed concerns that unchecked AI could devalue their work and prevent fair compensation.

OpenAI aims to address these concerns by giving users control over how their data is used in its products. The company is also exploring ways to compensate individuals for their data contributions, per the report.

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