What is perhaps most startling about updates like this from companies that essentially own the entire professional creative workflow is the casual way it describes upcoming automated features that currently account for thousands of hours of paid labor by gainfully employed individuals. To be clear, I\u2019m not decrying the progress of technology here: To the contrary, I\u2019m mostly watching the rapid pace of innovation around generative AI with awe and wonder.<\/p>\n

But you can both celebrate something and worry about its negative knock-on effects, and in fact, everyone involved should simultaneously hold both of those things in their heads.<\/p>\n

As the headline suggests, what\u2019s most in danger of future extinction within these bullet points provided by Adobe is effectively the fat middle of the bell curve of multimedia editing work. Color grading work to achieve a desired look is certainly going to make \u201cthe time between imagination and final product all but disappear,\u201d but that time isn\u2019t an inconvenience for probably upwards of tens of thousands of creative pros \u2014 it\u2019s the meat of their work and billable hours. Likewise for composing and recording generic music for use in low-budget projects; crafting typefaces and titles for everything that isn\u2019t a Hollywood blockbuster; and storyboarding and curating\/maintaining b-roll footage libraries.<\/p>\n

The same counterarguments apply here that are typically levied in discussions of innovation versus displaced current-day jobs: These will all just free up time previously dedicated to busywork to allow pros to focus on \u201creal\u201d creative work. Plus, they\u2019ll only ever account for the sub-par and mediocre work in the fields where they apply, leaving the truly excellent stuff to the human pros.<\/p>\n

These are fine arguments, and true to an extent, but it ignores some fundamental realities. The first is that people are not made to be doing \u201chigh-value\u201d work all of the time \u2014 doing busywork contributes to a natural rhythm of productivity that ebbs and flows, but that does so in a healthy way.<\/p>\n

The second is that most people make their living being mediocre, by definition. Even if all that the AI can ever achieve is \u201cworkmanlike\u201d results, that\u2019s the vast majority of the work done in creative industries. Most editors and colorists are not producing Blade Runner 2049; they\u2019re making shampoo commercials or HR training videos.<\/p>\n

I feel the need to reiterate that I\u2019m not arguing for a cessation of development of these kinds of features, and in fact I\u2019m excited to see their progress and try them out for myself. I am, however, advocating for more discussion and consideration of what the advent of these kinds of technologies mean for workforce transformation.<\/p>\n

Major revolutions in how people work do happen, and obviously society moves forward each time. But it\u2019s a mistake to think these things occur passively and in a fixed manner. Ensuring they occur with the least amount of negative impact on the people involved requires careful forethought, intention and planning \u2014 all of which should be baked into the process right alongside the innovation and iteration by the same people doing that work, too.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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