I was speaking with a friend last night: a graphic designer and web developer, about Generative AI and the disruption it would cause.
What he described was not fracture, but change nonetheless. Things that he used to do one way, he is already able to do in other ways. For example: he used to pay for copy, for the text for his websites, but not he can simply find examples and effortlessly produce what he needs by cycling that content through the system. And not just text.
Every time he adds a plugin into a site, it needs some connective code, and this too can be created by ChatGTP and it’s ilk. Not simply code, but bespoke code. So he can ask it to configure to specific needs. Again, this is not fracture in that he is still ‘directing’ the action, but things that he used to either do by hand, or pay someone else to do, are now essentially free and ‘on demand’. Which leaves him free to do other things.
Much of our conception of change is held in this type of frame: how it will make life different within the frame that we understand, but of course true disruption comes when the frame itself, the context of operation, is fractured.
At this point, legacy structures of understanding fail, and with those structures, legacy perceptions of power and control.
In time, the notion of ‘graphic designer’ will fracture, and indeed the notion of ‘web developer’.
Already my friend uses MidJourney and other tools to generate first draft ideas, to act as inspiration for himself, or to help a client visualise the end state. But of course these systems, and this capability, is neither fully developed nor limited in scope. Already people are connecting up tools (to use generative images in animation, to script films, and score them), and in short order the tools themselves will do this.
Soon the Art Engines will not only output art, but will extrapolate layers within it too, allowing for more nuanced further work by hand, or for iteration and remixing and reuse.
There is understandable media frenzy and political concern around Generative AI, primarily from a perspective of what we do not understand, or what we do understand but perhaps do not follow through to it’s logical conclusion. Our concern at what is happening this year relates to the tools that we have, and we are right to be aware of their impact, and to caution against their demons: for example, these are not search engines, they are narrative engines. Bing tells a story about me that adds in random degrees that i never took, and diverse interpretations of my work that i do not recognise. But the tools that we have today are not the tools we will end up with.
At least part of our attention must focus on the reconceptualisation of frames: where will the technology take us, and which systems of organisation, creativity, and effect, will be broken and reborn.
Certifications for 2023
I’m pleased to say that our full Events Calendar of Certifications for 2023 is now live: this includes both our free and paid for programmes: there are ten new cohorts for Quiet Leadership, so that’s 3,000 free places available, as well as some of my newest work in the programmes on ‘Culture Explorers’, ‘The Roots of Story’ and ‘Power and Potential’. You can find the full schedule here.
With best wishes
Julian
Generative AI and the Conception of Change