How to Sustain a Creative Career in the AI Age
In 2021, I shot behind-the-scenes footage for my first commercial media production. A few years later, I’d go on to start my own production company, produce educational science and tech shows for PBS and Discovery, and be involved in the process of making commercial content - both as on-camera talent and directing teams of 30+ people for branded shoots with companies like Intuit, Microsoft, LinkedIn and Chevy. Prior to that, like many content creators, I stood in front of a camera and talked to it. I was a one-man show.
I remember being shocked at how large production crews were on bigger budget projects. Even the “solo” YouTubers that I admired like MKBHD had large teams of people behind the scenes elevating his production value. After producing over 200 video projects, both as a scrappy one-man-show and with medium and large-scale crews, I got a keen sense of how different both styles of creation feel. Working with a large crew on projects gave me so much more peace of mind. The more support I had, the less I had to juggle in my brain.
Then Google's Veo 3 dropped. Now you can generate an entire commercial (with sound!) for a few hundred dollars without ever touching a camera, hiring talent, driving to a shoot location, or any of the loads of work associated with this in the past.
Is Creative Work dead? Definitely not.
Recently the CEO of Fiverr released a strongly-worded letter to his staff, explaining how everyone’s job, even his, was at risk due to AI advances. Fiverr is one of the newer, more innovative companies out there and even they are not safe from disruption. Several of the creative jobs I’ve hired Fiverr creators for: voice overs, storyboarding, video editing; I’ve been able to complete with AI tools like Eleven Labs, ChatGPT, Mid Journey, and CapCut.
These new AI tools rival the polished, high-production-value content that used to take a small army to create. As excited as I am to be living in a sci-fi futuristic world, this shift definitely made me pause and ask: Is there any job security left?
My concern runs so deep that I closed down my media production studio at the top of the year. I concluded that I’d rather not answer that question with the pressure of monthly bills from our studio.
High value production used to be reserved for people who owned the gear, had the skills, or were plugged into the right network. All of this has been democratized and automated.
While the gatekeepers have far less leverage, the level playing field makes competition for attention much steeper.
Creatives in more traditional career fields will be hit the hardest by this. If you are talent or crew that has opted out of building a robust digital portfolio, and get many of your creative jobs from online marketplaces like Fiverr, Upwork, Casting Frontier or Backstage. I am personally concerned about your job security. For example, it’s ultimately in both large and small brands' best interests to generate a fashion shoot with their latest line up of clothing instead of hiring 5 models, a 30+ person production crew, renting a large studio location, and all of the other small hires made during the traditional production process.
Recent AI discourse critiques the energy expenses of AI queries, but which is better for the environment, generating hundreds of images and videos? Or all of the CO2 emissions associated with a traditional production - wasted clothing, driving to and from location, shoot location emissions? Although data center energy consumption is expanding due to AI, we don't have to always run AI models in the cloud, local models may prove more environmentally friendly.
So is there any protection against AI-ification?
Your New Moat Is Brand Integrity (it has been for quite some time)
Content Creation has become more about trust and substance than quality. Your reputation for publishing things that people believe; whether they believe them to be funny, factually true, or entertaining, is what separates your creations from a text-to-video generator. In today’s modern creative landscape, individuals and teams who will stand the test of time will solidify their reputation. People are yearning for something that feels solid, trustworthy and authentic. Sometimes making things that feel the most trustworthy don’t garner the most engagement; but I believe this is a short-term sacrifice for a long term gain.
If people know you as a truth-teller, or a teller of great stories, they'll still come to you. Because you're real. Even if they don’t come to you as fast as the sensationalists; they’ll stick around for authenticity.
An intriguing example that’s recently had my attention is a small, but fast-growing YouTuber by the name of Lit Nomad. He’s a retired quant trader that began creating a series of YouTube videos where he discusses his version of the harsh truth of things, with an empowering undertone.
I don’t entirely agree with all of his takes, but what I find compelling are how devout his commenters are. They seem to almost unanimously appreciate his unorthodox takes on subjects. An AI generated version of his content just wouldn’t have the same appeal.
There's No One Coming to Save You
Recently, I've seen countless comments from creators about reduced engagement and opportunities. None of these platforms owe us engagement, the industry doesn’t owe creatives opportunities, and unless you have an anomalous experience, people aren’t going to overpay you for excessively laborious traditional production. There will be less jobs than before, and higher expectations at current ones. You’ll have to save yourself.
Here are a few ways to stay empowered:
1. Drop the Beef with AI There are a lot of legitimate reasons to have an issue with AI use today. But none of these are reasons to needlessly sacrifice your competency with modern tools. Even if AI in your industry hasn’t caught up yet, you’re not far from having tools that can surpass your raw creative abilities. But we don’t need to see AI as competition, I view AI as a super-smart intern that lacks common sense. My creative voice and touch adds that last layer of razzle dazzle to projects, and I don’t think this will go away anytime soon.
2. Become AI Literate yesterday There are FREE AI training resources from NVIDIA, Google and Microsoft that not enough of us are taking advantage of. There are also free trial subscriptions for AI tools like Midjourney, Runway, ElevenLabs and ChatGPT. Use them, along with YouTube University to speed up your creative workflow. Check out my "How to Date AI Tools" Resource to navigate this landscape tactically.
3. Update and Publicize your Digital Portfolio If you're a model, actor, editor, or production crew member who's relied on industry connections but stayed offline, then you might want to reconsider your strategy. You don't need to be an influencer, but you do need a place where people can find, trust, and hire you; even if it’s a strong website, some social pages showcasing your past work, and a recently updated IMDB page.
4. Collaborate! Find partners who push you, share your values, experiment, and who build for the love of building. I launched a new podcast show called Curiosity Theory that I think will be AI proof!
Why this is an Exciting time
With today's tools, anyone can make anything. But everything won’t resonate with everyone. It’s more important now than ever before to be tuned in with your why and aware of your audience. Because you can use it to make whatever you want and it can reach whomever you want!
We used to have to build pitch decks, fund proofs of concept, and beg networks or other decision makers for permission to make content. All this, only to hope we get enough budget to creatively execute to our own standards. Now, with a few hundred dollars and a crystal clear vision, we can put our content out to algorithms that mostly prioritize content quality over having a big page and audience. This is an unprecedented time in the creative world! Now go make great things!