Creative artificial intelligence is less a futuristic concept than a technology that’s already part of our daily lives. 

So what does that mean for artists and creatives? 

Alisha Giroux’s talk was as much a reassurance as it was a call to action for people to recognize the signature characteristics that make their work unique. To embrace the innate human-ness of the creative process.

The emergence of creative AI used to keep Alisha up at night. As an illustrator and designer, she observed as AI generated images quickly went from funny and freaky to something that resembled art made by a real person. It felt distressing, like a threat to the personal touch she infused into her work. An affront to her creative core. 

One day, a friend helped shift her perspective. He was ambivalent about creative AI. The reason, he told Alisha: “A machine creating art feels like it’s defeating the purpose of creation.”

This was the message Alisha brought to the audience at Bayview Yards. That art is not exclusively about output, but also about the process that went into making it and the creator’s personal connection to their work. 

Besides, Alisha noted, humans like gathering IRL to see stuff made by other humans. Despite being able to google pictures of the Mona Lisa, people still fly to Paris to see her in the Louvre. And no matter how popular Spotify gets, it can’t replace the scratchy sound of a vinyl record. People crave the analogue, and art that bears a distinctly human fingerprint. 

Alisha ended by urging people to think about the personal touch they bring to their creative work—the style that can come only from the journey of creation and the human experience. Watch her full talk here!

Thank you again to Alisha for her insights, thoughtfulness, and adorable bird illustrations (!). See more of Alisha’s work for yourself on her design portfolio, online store, or by following her on Instagram, @_asmeesh.