Slowing Down

Written by Liz Lopez Healy AI’s been in my head. I don’t believe it’s going to steal everyone’s job, but I’m not convinced it’s the future of everything either. Most of what I keep hearing feels like the same lines on repeat. AI is the future. AI is bad. AI has no taste. AI is the death of creativity. AI will change everything. AI will change nothing. Maybe that’s not the only point though.

I get why people are uneasy. Careers are built over years, and it’s hard watching parts of that work become easier overnight. But tools have always changed how we work. They’ve been making work faster, cheaper and more accessible for a while now. What do we do with that? I’ve been using AI in my work. It’s very useful. I can get ideas down fast, organise my thoughts, and test things out quickly. And yes, it saves time. But what are we all doing with that time? It doesn’t feel like anyone’s slowing down. It feels like we’re all just moving faster so we can do more. We answer things quicker, only to answer more things. We create things faster, only to create more things. We can reach people instantly and still struggle to have a proper conversation.

I’m not convinced faster is always better.

AI is a cheeseburger. You’re on a road trip, starving, running late, it’s exactly what you need. You eat it and keep driving. It fills a gap. You might feel greasy later, but it did the job. A long dinner at a hatted restaurant, though? A book you savour because you don’t want it to end? Practising something for years? Running until your legs give out? I believe the time they take is part of what makes them matter.

The part of AI I really like though? More people having ways to explore their ideas. I don’t really believe creativity belongs only to ‘creatives’. Some of the most creative people I know aren’t designers or artists. They’re people who make things work with whatever’s in front of them. They don’t know Illustrator, but they know their business. Now more people can have a go. It’s great. It reminds me of having a recipe book. It won’t make you a chef, but it can help you make dinner. It can give you somewhere to start. But if you want a great meal, you still need to learn the craft. Judgement, practise and time. The same goes for creative work. AI can help more people start, and that’s good . But there’s still no substitute for experience, context, client relationships, and knowing how to build an idea so it works in the real world.

It’s not new, we’ve seen this before. Processed food and home cooking. Fast fashion and handmade clothing. Streaming and vinyl. I hope the same thing happens with creative work. People go back and look for what got lost along the way. The easier and cheaper it becomes to make something, the more obvious and valuable it becomes when someone has taken the time to create it.

I don’t think the real issue is whether or not to use AI. It’s deciding which things are worth slowing down for.