What we get wrong about AI and originality
Human creativity isn't completely unique, but you are — and that's what matters.
Joe Lazer is the head of content & comms at A.Team and best-selling author of The Storytelling Edge.
I often hear a flawed argument about creativity in the AI age: We shouldn’t worry that AI-generated content is unoriginal because human creativity isn’t particularly original — most movies, books, and songs are built upon the ideas of others.
If you’re a human being with a natural desire to express yourself, this is depressing. It also misses an important point — what’s being said isn’t as important as who’s saying it.
As I wrote about in my newsletter earlier this year, people often conflate the act of writing with the art of storytelling. When we love a writer, we don’t just love them for their ability to string sentences together in a logical order or summarize information. We love them for their stories — and the voice, perspective, and insight that shines through those words.
What makes your story matter isn’t that it’s 100% unique; it’s that it happened to you. When you’re writing thought leadership content, what engages your audience isn’t just the idea — it’s the lived experience that brought you to that epiphany. Humans are social creatures. We're wired to learn by connecting with other people, not by consuming machine outputs.
AI can be a powerful tool for research, brainstorming, and editing. I use it damn near every day. But don’t get tricked by the false arguments about originality — your humanity matters more than you think.
The AI Hype Matrix maps the latest AI news stories across an unimpeachable scale of Hype (everyone is talking about this!) and Fear (will this kill my career? Will this kill EVERYONE?). Here’s this week’s rundown.
Ever been fashionably late to a party, only to find out everyone else is three martinis deep? That’s probably how Apple feels this week — the tech giant is finally joining in on the AI fun with its latest iPhone. Meanwhile, other revelers are already in karaoke mode: Salesforce is betting big on AI agents, Amazon is letting Audible narrators create AI clones of their voices, and Anthropic is rolling out Claude for Enterprise, the business-focused version of its popular LLM.
In the category of "creative AI misdeeds,” a scammer is facing up to 60 years in prison after using AI to create fake bands, rack up millions of bot streams, and pocket a cool $10 mil. In scarier AI shenanigans, Dutch regulators are fining Clearview AI more than $33 million for its "illegal database" of faces. On a more optimistic note, a group of nations including the US, UK, and EU is banding together to sign an AI treaty designed to align the technology with human rights.
Creatives are flaunting their AI skills on LinkedIn
AI aptitude is the hot new skill to brag about on LinkedIn, and creatives can’t hit that “edit profile” button fast enough. According to a recent report from Microsoft and LinkedIn, content writers are the most likely to list AI proficiency on the popular networking platform, followed by graphic designers and marketing managers.
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Reimagine brand mascots for the AI age
Brand mascots (think Tony the Tiger, the Geico Gecko, or Mr. Clean) have been a staple of marketing campaigns for decades. This week’s prompt encourages you to reimagine classic brand characters with a futuristic twist. While the exercise may not make it into any of your own marketing material, it’s a fun way to reboot your favorite anthropomorphized breakfast cereal icons from the ‘90s.
Suggested prompt text:
"Choose 5 iconic brand mascots and reimagine them for the year 2050. Describe their new appearances, capabilities, and how they might interact with consumers in the future."