When the speed of delivering creative work becomes the end game, value beyond meeting the deadline quickly deteriorates.
Photo by cottonbro studio
In many of today's creative outputs, whether writing, design, art, music or film, there is a growing sameness. Everything looks the same, sounds the same and is oversaturated to the same degree. Word salad. Visual overload. The direct opposites of simplicity and the readability it provides. Too often, focus is on speed and ease of delivery, not quality and longevity.
The intelligent creative machine may be one of the biggest misconceptions of our time, if not a manufactured illusion. It can make us doubt the process of creative exploration itself, forgetting that an individual's growth as a creative force, in any medium, is built from effort, doubt and error, and from overcoming all of it to reach a final result. However far from perfect, there is still the reward of accomplishment and, sometimes, the appreciation of an audience, even if it is only one person. Every creative accomplishment paves the way for the next, and each step and project builds confidence, style and method. The challenges and obstacles of the creative journey build the character of the artist, designer, or musician and eventually lead to significant, groundbreaking work. It is not always easy, nor was it meant to be.
The intelligent creative machine may be one of the biggest misconceptions of our time, if not a manufactured illusion.
Driven by deadlines
Promising solutions that make work faster and easier, the myth of the magical button of digital technology is more than an exaggeration. It damages our perception of how long it takes to create something out of the ordinary, and it affects the mindset of both the creator and those commissioning the work. This doesn't mean the work should take however long it takes while everyone waits patiently. Some argue it is a choice between art and finishing on time. Others say you can have both.
For many creative professionals, the deadline is not the opponent but a driving force that turns a project into a finished piece, ready for presentation to its audience on time. Many of the perpetual creative loops that artists, writers and designers can get stuck in simply have to be broken when there is a delivery date. To some creatives, the producer or project manager may seem like someone who spoils the fun ("this job would be great if it weren't for the clients"). But they frame and check the timeline so everything happens on time, and the good ones carve out an oasis of time where the creative can dive deep and do their best work. When deadlines are handled properly, they don't limit great creative work. They enable it. Great creative work happens in the balance of creativity and timely coordination.
When haste becomes the end goal
As the creative industries digitise, speed has become an essential part of the process. Mail became email, which is often treated as an invitation to round-the-clock, real-time conversation, and digital channels now enable – and often encourage the demand for – instant delivery. It sometimes seems as if haste and the deadline have become more important than the completed work itself. But the value of the work is only evident after the deadline. Appreciation for fast execution and delivery, instant creative services, is immediate but temporary. When work done in haste starts showing its flaws, whether a campaign that doesn't perform, a movie nobody wants or a forgettable experience, we are reminded that the delivery date is not the goal in itself. The quality and success of what is delivered is.
It sometimes seems as if haste and the deadline have become more important than the completed work itself.
Many creative studios and agencies are considering this want for higher speed and lower prices as they reflect on how artificial intelligence is affecting their industry. Offering creative expertise that contributes to a client's growth, rather than just creative services, seems the wiser choice at a time when many mistakenly believe that generating an image is the same as conjuring up special, unique, and memorable visuals. They lack the insight and instinct of the experienced art director, copywriter, designer, or composer that makes any tool, digital or analogue, worth more than its features. It is not the brush that makes the art.
Endurance of craftsmanship
The need for speed in the creative industries is nothing new. Neither is the devaluing of craftsmanship when new technologies arrive: photography versus painting, CGI versus practical effects, and, in a repeat of history, digital versus analogue photography. Yet appreciation for crafts once thought obsolete often wins audiences back, including physical effects. At the time of writing, the stop-motion feature Wildwood looks set to be an upcoming success, thanks to the craftsmanship and dedication bringing a new animation classic to life. In contrast, China's first fully AI-generated feature, Sanxingdui: Future Past, flopped at the box office. Appropriately, the latter is set in a future where a superintelligent AI has spread across the globe, and humanity has handed control to algorithms, plunging the world into crisis.
LAIKA Studios worked on the stop-motion animated feature Wildwood for 16 years, with physical production spanning about 5 to 7 years.
A creative leadership paradox
There is a growing paradox for creative executives and studio owners. Many seem convinced that AI will deliver quality output faster and cheaper, yet many audiences don't appreciate the lack of deeper concept, craft, and humanity often on display. Ignoring this can ultimately destroy a service or offering.
For brands and marketers targeting Generation Z, an August 2026 study from Rival Technologies reveals a growing disconnect and the misconception that anything that goes beep is cool. Keep in mind that many in this generation feel threatened by, or in competition with, AI as they establish and grow their careers. In the words of the study:
– In our study, 72% of Gen Z claim to have already taken at least one concrete action against a brand after encountering AI-made marketing:
- 50% have unfollowed or stopped following a brand on social media
- 49% have complained about a brand to friends, family, or online
- 48% have unsubscribed from a brand's emails or texts
- 43% have stopped buying from or using a brand altogether
When Gen Z detects AI use in your marketing, it can impact brand reputation, brand loyalty and, ultimately, revenue. But we also found important nuances. For example, in our study, Canadian participants are more negative and more likely to punish a brand for AI use. Another example: older Gen Zs are more likely to feel negatively.
Source: Rival Technologies
Rival Technologies is not the only one pointing to Generation Z's animosity toward AI. Forbes, Gallup and others continue to publish statistics pointing in the same direction.
The creativity assistant
Does all of this mean we should stop using AI and whatever technologies that follow in creative development altogether, retreating to some paleo-creative nostalgia from before digital image editors like Adobe Photoshop existed? While it is commendable to see appreciation for the human touch and craft become the premium over digital, there are many benefits to using machines to assist human creativity without letting the machine lead. That assistance may happen off-screen, built into systems or behind the scenes. But innovation lies in covering new ground, not redoing what we have already done, with nothing to distinguish the work from mere output other than that it was made faster, streamlined to the point of irritation and ultimately utterly forgettable.
Sometimes slowing down is what it takes to make major leaps forward.
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