How Companies get AI wrong / How They can get it Right

I was in high school when AI first made headlines. At that time, creating with it was a novelty that was incredibly fascinating, but served no commercial value. Now, larger and larger brands are starting to utilize it, from small businesses, to start ups, to major manufacturers like Coca-Cola. This has raised concerns with many in the creative space, pointing out how AI has been trained on the work of countless artists, and how it can replicate their unique style without the artists' consent. Even non-creators alike have shared similar negative emotions towards generative AI, claiming that it is "...a travesty." and are using words like "slop" to refer to campaigns using it, as seen in the comments on Coca-Cola's 2025 Christmas campaign. 

Where Companies are Missing the Mark

AI is genuinely an incredible tool looking back on how far technology has come. Anyone who has experimented or played around with it feels this wonder when what you type actually manifests through these agents, and that wonder is what blinds companies into thinking their consumers will like seeing it used in their marketing materials. Research done by Gu et al. shows that there is an eeriness affected by the lack of imagination and verisimilitude, or realism, to AI generated content (AIGC). This eeriness is explained to negatively impact the likelihood of AIGC being accepted by consumers sampled across a range of 1147 people. Negative sentiment is also abundantly apparent on social media, with comments on social media questioning posts presumably made with AIGC, or discrediting and shaming posts that actively admit to using AIGC. There is a very clear line that consumers don't want customers crossing, and it comes down to what is being lost while using AI. 

Where we can do Better

If we lived in a world that never experienced the beauty of human created art, I am sure all of us could accept that AI serves the purpose of those who use AIGC for their branding and marketing. However, what we lose is the effort that artists spend refining their craft and putting those skills into a profession that communicates a brand's intentions with us. If someone close to us loses a loved one, most would hesitate sending a message written obviously by AI because it does no convey the sincerity of your voice. Similarly, brands should hesitate before using AI in ways that come across to the consumer as lacking effort and disingenuous. A good example of a creative company doing better is Sony Pictures. The studio behind the hit animated Spider-man films have been open about their use on AIGC, however are very clear and discerning with how they use it. Creators utilized machine learning with data from their own artists to optimize a tedious task, usually done by hand, so that the real artists can spend more time on the scenes that make an impact on the audience. This AIGC did not use artists' work outside of their studio, and it does not infringe on the effort and countless hours it takes to make films like these. 

How to be Apart of the Change, Opinions

 As a creative myself, I can understand the backlash many companies face while using AIGC, as putting up an AI banner almost whispers to the consumer, "I was able to make this in minutes". Regardless of actual time spent, or personal time and budget restrictions, the last thing you want is a consumer feeling that way about the product you produce because of what your banner conveys. This is where using AIGC to create tools for creation comes in. Adobe Photoshop has already rolled out numerous tools such as removing backgrounds, generative fill and generating adjustable angles for 2d illustrations, and I think there is a line with using these tools. The more that is generated in the finished product, the less consumers will be ready to accept it as a piece or artistic media. Recently, I did something I never thought that I would, and that is use AIGC myself. I stayed away fearing these things myself, but when I thought a little deeper, I realized how I could use it as a tool to help me create. With 10+ hours in Claude, deploying and testing over 38 versions of my site, I have been able to create a portfolio editor that allows me to showcase my works without relying on the use of AIGC for design. Every image on my site has been created or placed by myself, and any feature that requires a model to use is either created with simple shapes, or has been designed and uploaded by myself. AIGC may be a combination of fascinating and scary at the same time, but I am confident that with the right use, AI can be used as a tool to help creatives express themselves into more outlets of work, rather than serve as a replacement to human design.