If You’re Only A “Content Creator,” You’ll Be Replaced By AI
Standing out as an artist in an era of boring AI automation
“It’s getting ever harder to distinguish humans from bots, not just because bots are becoming more humanlike, but also because humans are becoming more botlike.”
The age of the “content creator” is over, and AI will put it out of its misery.
This may cause many to panic. Certain bloggers, writers, artists, or those who make their living out of creativity may wonder about their future. And some should.
The idea of a predatory program hunting you down and taking your job — like the terminator carrying a keyboard instead of a machine gun — may haunt the dreams of certain creators. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
In fact, just using the title “content creator,” and seeing yourself as such puts the target of this terrible AI job-stealing assassin on your head. If you lower the value of what you provide to “content,” you’ve already partially lost. But I can’t word it any better than author Ozan Varol in Awaken Your Genius:
“A part of me dies inside when someone calls themselves a ‘content creator.’ Content is something you stuff inside a bag. It’s something you produce on an assembly line. No one wants to get up in the morning and read content over coffee. And no truly self-respecting creator wants to generate content either…Content creators can be replaced, artists can’t.”
With this in mind, look at the picture above of the assembly line one more time. This sums up the current issue. It’s AI-generated. I want you to notice two points: its meaning, and the details of the picture itself.
The picture interestingly compares the “content creator” ideal to a soul-less 1930s style assembly line. But look closer. The details are all wrong: the faces are blurred, the workers’ hands are missing fingers, and it’s kind of grotesque.
It gets the job done, but I could have changed it with a stock photo, or another AI-generated image. In other words, it’s replaceable. So is “content.”
As Ozan Varol notes, the true artist is irreplaceable. But what exactly is this “artist” and how do you become one? Fortunately, we have an excellent guide to show us.
The Artist Behind The Recording Artists
Rick Rubin is the legendary creative force behind much of the music we’ve been enthralled with since the 1980s. The producer created his own record label in his college dorm room.
After producing a dance track which took local clubs in NY by storm, he caught the attention of Hip-Hop star Russel Simmons who joined Rubin’s label. The two collected demo tapes from aspiring rappers. Within a year, they had their first major hit behind a young LL Cool J. The next year Columbia Records hired Rubin and Simmons.
Rubin had a major role in producing the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, and Run DMC. He’d later leave Columbia and create his own label again. He produced hits with The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Danzig, Slayer and Johnny Cash.
Many who worked with Rubin found he could make talented artists even better. His creativity was contagious. Recently Rubin talked to podcaster Dan Carlin about creativity and being an artist. He explains that a good part relies on belief. Rubin says:
“As creative people, we’re believing things into existence. They don’t exist, and without our belief, they will never exist. But through our belief we get to make the things we make and share them.”
The producer notes that ancient people like the Vikings and the nomads of the Steppes believed in magic, which in many ways made them powerful. Not that magic was real, but their belief manifested itself in the world in real ways.
Rubin says creativity and art are similar. Seeing creativity as mechanical makes it stale and generic; however, if you’re channeling something through yourself into the world, that thing takes on an otherworldly quality.
Okay, so the belief part is understandable, but how does one “channel” something? Well, this is more external. And we have a good guide for this path as well.
A Magician’s Secret For Creating Magic
“Have heroes outside of magic. Mine are Hitchcock, Poe, Sophocles, Shakespeare, and Bach. You’re welcome to borrow them, but you must learn to love them yourself for your own reasons. Then they’ll push you in the right direction.”
— Raymond Joseph Teller (of Penn & Teller), email to Brian Brushwood
Many years ago, a fan of the comic magic group Penn & Teller met them after a show. Later this fan, Brian Brushwood, got Teller’s email address, holding on to it almost like an emergency lifeline.
After struggling in his magic career, Brushwood emailed Teller begging him for advice on being truly creative. Teller replied. The email held a masterclass worth of advice on creativity and being a true artist.
One of Teller’s prime suggestions: look for inspiration outside of your field of work. Being “the Salvador Dali of magic” would be truly different. Furthermore, Teller notes many great artists naturally did this.
Bach had the skills of a playwright and could have written operas.
Shakespeare would have been an excellent musician.
Teller learned his gift of surprise in magic from Alfred Hitchcock.
It extends to the modern world as well.
Bruce Lee wasn’t just a movie star. He was a fitness guru, philosophy major, and a martial artist.
Ozan Varol was a programmer, then got accepted to NASA to work as a rocket scientist. Later he became a lawyer, then a law school professor. Now, he’s an author.
Rick Rubin spends lots of time studying spirituality, reading about many topics, and listening to classical music — not just modern styles.
When you can combine all those experiences and ways of seeing the world, you’re able to blend and channel a creative force in ways which appear magical.
Obviously, we’ve walked down a pretty long path, so let’s circle back to our starting point: AI and “content creators.”
Being An Artist Instead Of A Content Creator
An article at Futurism reports the websites Buzzfeed, CNET, and Men’s Health are using AI generated content. They’re also firing writers. Currently, the computer writing is sketchy, but improving.
Not too far in the future, a bot will be able to be a “content creator.” So, if that’s all you are, expect to be replaced. But however good these machines get; true artists will always be desired and irreplaceable. So, it’s in everyone’s interest to be less bot-like.
A good start is seeing yourself as an artist and not a content creator. It requires a trip down two separate paths: one internal and one external.
The first requires belief. If you believe yourself to be an artist — more than just a faceless factoryworker churning out content — it’ll connect into the things you produce.
The second requires curiosity about the world beyond your chosen art. Consume widely and combine those ideas in unique ways.
Personally, I study history, philosophy, martial arts, fitness, and spend a good deal of time working with machinery in my day job. All this besides writing.
There are times I can hear the words of my martial arts instructor and Niccolo Machiavelli in my head, while imagining a high-pressure pump in my mind. Of course, that could be insanity. But I prefer to believe it as that channeling force Teller and Rubin spoke about.
So, think about all of this as you create, and the nature of what you create. If you’re only a “content creator,” you’ll be replaced by AI.
-Originally posted on Medium 9/3/23