Since the launch of ChatGPT in November, creatives everywhere are asking the question, “Will ChatGPT Replace My Job?” In case you’ve been living offline, Open AI debuted the chatbot prototype, which wowed the market with its lightning speed answers and specific responses. With the ability to draft copy, write poetry and song lyrics and debug computer systems, it is prompting debate over ethical, educational and cybersecurity implications. Yet, some believe this is the dawn of AI as a new human superpower.

In many ways, the capabilities of AI do seem superhuman because they are just that…not human. AI algorithms can process vast amounts of data at rapid speed, perform complex tasks with high accuracy and even learn and adapt overtime. AI can augment our abilities and help us do things that would be impossible for a single person to do alone. 

These capabilities have the potential to revolutionize many industries and change the way we live. Copywriters can reduce the time they once spent researching blog posts. Ad execs can ask the platform to draft copy for multiple advertisements. Lyricists can find a list of rhyming words with the click of a button. But will the platform replace the human need entirely?

Time will tell how the Chat GPT platform will evolve. However, in its current form, it has its limitations. AI algorithms are only as good as the data they are trained on. They can be biased, if the data they are fed is partial. 

“I see AI as a helpful tool when you can’t otherwise get something done as well as you could, but not as a replacement for your own learning,” said Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysicist, Author and Science Communicator.

Additionally, AI is not capable of imagination or independent thought in the same way that humans are. 

“New ideas are not yet online. So I’d like to see AI invent new understandings of the laws of physics.  I haven’t seen that yet,” continued deGrasse Tyson. 

AI lacks perspective, degrees of humor, subtlety and most importantly emotion. What makes copy engaging or a song evoke a memory are the feelings it arouses. Effective ads provoke a reaction that motivates the target audience to buy. Songs and poetry that have endured throughout the decades are the ones that echo the heartbreak you felt in high school. Greenlit screenplays are the ones that capture the delicate nuances of relationships. 

Our theory is that AI is not a replacement for human intelligence and ingenuity. Instead, it’s a tool that can be used to enhance and amplify our natural abilities. Creatives utilizing AI will edge ahead of those who are not. 

“I think we’re going to have potentially the best decade of flourishing of creativity that we’ve ever had, because a whole bunch of people, lots more people than before, are going to be able to contribute to our collective art and science,” said Professor Erik Brynjolfsson, director of Stanford University’s Digital Economy Lab.

History supports this theory if we reflect on conversations swirling around in the 80s with the arrival of personal computers. At the time, people asked if the computer would replace their function in their jobs. While some sectors have disappeared over the past 40 years, multiple sectors of information workers centered around technology have been created.  

Our society has progressed from farming to manufacturing to information technology. AI is the next chapter in our transformation. The beautiful characteristic of the human spirit is our ability to change. So with the arrival of AI, our jobs will shift, but they won’t be gone. The human spirit can’t be replaced.