If you’re old enough to get the reference in the title, you probably remember a time when creative deadlines meant late nights, scalpels, fibre-tipped pens or battling a temperamental printer. Not wondering if the machine in the corner (or the one in your pocket) could do your job better.
With a daughter studying English literature, I see someone who will happily spend more time on a single sentence than most people give to an entire email. Every word is considered. Every reference is intentional. It’s slow, thoughtful work. So it’s hard not to wonder what her future holds when AI can generate word-perfect content to a brief in just seconds. Because that’s the reality we’re facing. AI can write faster than most people. It can design, edit and produce with almost no effort. Despite the jarring giveaways like the overuse of certain vocabulary and a strange fondness for em dashes that no one actually uses in reality, the results are often good enough. And in many cases, that’s all that’s needed.
It’s no longer about best. It’s about better. Quicker. Cheaper. That shift obviously has big implications for everyone, not just creatives. I noticed it recently when recruiting. The volume of CVs clearly written by AI is hard to ignore. Clean, efficient, confident. But also oddly flat. It raises a different kind of question. If the words are technically right but tell me nothing real, what am I actually learning about the person behind them?
And then there’s the strange moment when you find yourself saying ‘please’ to a chatbot. Or ‘thank you’ at the end of a prompt. Does it change anything? Not really. The outcome probably doesn’t improve because you’ve been polite. But I still do it. I wonder if it says more about me than the technology. About how we show up as humans, even when no one’s watching. If we start removing the human side of interaction in our process, does it start to slip out of the work too?
The stats make the bigger picture hard to avoid. The IMF says around 40 percent of jobs worldwide will be affected by AI. In the UK, up to 8 million roles could be at risk over the next few years, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research. Creative roles are firmly on that list. Graphic design, for example, is one of the most exposed areas according to a recent Design Week report. And more than a third of marketing professionals are already using AI tools day-to-day, we certainly are.
It’s obviously not just happening in content and design. Manufacturing has already taken its own leap into the dark. So-called “dark factories” now operate in full automation, with no need for lights, breaks or even people. They run 24/7 without interruption.
Of course, there’s one more layer to this conversation that’s worth mentioning. For all its speed and efficiency, AI still comes with a cost, and not just to jobs. The energy demands behind training and running large models are significant. As businesses lean further into automation, many are asking how sustainable this pace really is. If creativity is going to exist alongside AI, it also needs to sit alongside more conscious decisions about the tools we use and how we use them.
So yes, the machines are rising. But perhaps we don’t need to hand over the creative controls just yet.
At The Creative Branch, we believe the future still needs people. Creativity isn’t disappearing. It’s adapting. The best work is still shaped by timing, judgement, relevance and message. People who question, imagine, edit and care are crucial. If you’re trying to bring AI into your marketing without losing that human instinct, let’s talk.
Our approach is built on partnership. We use AI to handle the repetitive or technical jobs so there’s more time for clearer thinking and stronger ideas. When it adds value, we use it. But it never replaces the core of what makes our work meaningful.
The future isn’t written yet. But if you want yours to be more creative, more original and a little less robotic, we’re ready when you are!
