BOONE \u2014 Daniel Weaver, a recent Appalachian State graduate who does graphic design and freelance work, was thrilled when a local bakery asked him to create its logo.<\/p>\n
Weaver developed a series of sketches with a vibrant color palette consisting of blues, greens, pinks and yellows, highlighting a waterfall cascading into a river. He sent them over, excited at the possibility of securing a client.<\/p>\n
While negotiating the price for his work, the company chose to use an artificial intelligence-powered image creator. They stopped responding to Weaver and opted for the AI logo instead. He lost the contract.<\/p>\n
Weaver was unimpressed by the new design.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought they were subpar compared to my work,\u201d he said. \u201cI would have loved to see another artist on that, even if it wasn\u2019t me, but it saved them 300 to 400 bucks on their project.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was the third time in his fledgling career that he lost work to AI.<\/p>\n
A quarter of illustrators and more than a third of translators have lost work due to generative AI, according to a Society of Authors study published in April 2024. Additionally, they found that almost two-thirds of fiction writers and over half of non-fiction writers fear that generative AI will reduce income from their work. These fears are not without cause.<\/p>\n
In its 2025 future of jobs report, the World Economic Forum found that the graphic design field is projected to be the 11th fastest declining job from 2025-30.<\/p>\n
Weaver, a tattooed punk-rock drummer, artist, writer, graphic designer, and founder of the brand \u201cImperishable Crowns,\u201d is one of many creatives whom generative AI has replaced. Instances like Weaver\u2019s contribute to the growing fear amongst creators that their careers and livelihoods could be at risk.<\/p>\n
Companies have faced backlash from consumers online, with comment sections full of replies calling the ads \u201cslop\u201d and accusing the companies of putting in \u201czero effort.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite consumers\u2019 disdain, companies have persisted in AI-based advertising. iSpot reported that during the Super Bowl, 23% of commercials featured AI. AI involved ads averaged 11% lower likability than non-AI involved ads.<\/p>\n
Case Cleaves is one of these consumers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think using artificial intelligence to generate images is totally immoral, I think it\u2019s just a misapplication of that technology,\u201d Cleaves, an industrial design major, said. \u201cI think it should not be done. We were getting along fine before people started doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n
During winter break, Cleaves and his friends went to the theater to watch a movie, but during the ads before the movie, the Coca-Cola Christmas ad started playing. Out of protest, Cleaves and his friends booed throughout its runtime.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really screwed up to go and see a movie that people have worked really hard to make, but first, you\u2019re subjected to a bunch of computer-generated filth that\u2019s generated by prompts from people who don\u2019t want to spend the time to make something cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Cleaves sees AI as a moral and aesthetic failure, Jason Wallace \u2014 graphic designer and owner of Huzzah Books\u2014 sees it as a facet of capitalism\u2019s current regime.<\/p>\n
Wallace graduated from Pratt Institute, an art and design school in Brooklyn, in 2019, with a BFA in Communications Design with a concentration in Graphic Design.<\/p>\n
Before starting Huzzah Books, Wallace held several graphic design internships and, since then, has maintained a steady stream of freelance work, ranging from flyers for locals in Boone to a logo for the University of Texas.<\/p>\n
From his studies and what he\u2019s heard from those in the design field, Wallace said the middle of the 20th century was design\u2019s golden age in America, due to businesses\u2019 willingness to pour substantial funds into it. Wallace pointed to designers Paul Rand and Saul Bass as examples of designers who were \u201cpaid to play.\u201d He said that since this apex of design, the assets companies are willing to use for artistic visuals have plummeted, prioritizing quantitative data that results in \u201cdollar signs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wallace said that this golden age of design, when compared to modern-day design, seems like \u201ca mythology.\u201d In his eyes, a shift began around the late \u201880s and early \u201890s when \u201cbudgets shrunk, jobs became less specified and more generalized through digitization, and lifelong practices were reduced to an almost clerical simplicity of what has essentially become button pushing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been watching the extended fallout from that time throughout the 21st century. It\u2019s bleak,\u201d Wallace said. \u201cAI is just the newest development.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Wallace has a dim view of the industry on an economic level, calling it \u201ca very convenient tool for commerce,\u201d he doesn\u2019t believe that AI can replace human art, for one reason: the process.<\/p>\n
\u201cI subscribe to the idea that the final thing is an artifact of a process,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He and a college friend were working on a long, ambitious publication that was printed entirely in newsprint. Newsprint is extremely absorbent; if water touches it, it will suck it up immediately.<\/p>\n
Wallace wanted to show his professor the project\u2019s draft, but it was raining. He traveled across campus, carrying the piece hidden beneath his shirt. He made it inside with the piece unscathed, or so he thought. While unveiling his project from beneath his shirt, a single drop of water fell directly onto it. Despite it ruining his initial vision of the piece, something new was created.<\/p>\n
Wallace said the water spread through the paper\u2019s CMYK colors \u2014 cyan, magenta, yellow and key (black), the four inks used in print \u2014 pulling out blues and reds that resembled the early stages of a bruise. He described it as a \u201cbeautiful, perfect splatter.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t have placed it any better if I had come up with the idea, and if I had come up with the idea, I don\u2019t even know how I would have done it,\u201d Wallace said. \u201cFor a split second, I was like, \u2018oh (crap)\u2019, and then I was like, \u2018oh wow.\u2019 And so I showed my friend, and we were like, \u2018Of course.\u2019 So we scanned that and got a high-resolution scan, and that became the cover. And no, AI could not ever do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said his whole experience as a student led to the crescendo of the lone water drop. He considers this an expression of humanity, which, in his eyes, is something AI lacks.<\/p>\n
That same theme \u2014 human connection as AI\u2019s blind spot \u2014 runs through Liz May\u2019s perspective on music.<\/p>\n
May, an assistant professor of Music Industry Studies at App State, has spent her entire career on the business side of music.<\/p>\n
In 2003, she founded a recording and live sound production company. She has also managed venues, booked artists and produced events across the industry.<\/p>\n
She said that AI isn\u2019t new to the music industry, but it\u2019s been used across different mediums under different names, including MIDI patches and autotune.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think its limitations come down to the non-human qualities of things. Particularly in music, that\u2019s what people love about music, it\u2019s a human connection that they\u2019re making with the artist, the writer, the performer,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople want to have that personal connection, and you don\u2019t have that in AI.\u201d<\/p>\n
May doesn\u2019t fear AI in music; she views it as a tool to increase efficiency. Still, she does draw the line once it infringes upon human creativity, becoming the artist.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last thing that we should want AI to do is to take our creativity away, I think that\u2019s the big thing. It\u2019s one thing to have AI spell check, or as a calculator. You know, fix this, or figure out this formula \u2026 those are processes,\u201d May said. \u201cBut as soon as we say, \u2018you do the creative part, I\u2019m gonna put in the prompt, here\u2019s all my parameters,\u2019 then we ask the AI generator to create the creative part, we just lost a bit of our human quality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although AI is not a formal part of her class, May said it\u2019s something she\u2019d like to incorporate. She already weaves discussion about AI\u2019s uses and consequences into class time when possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cI challenge them to do a lot of research on those topics and form an opinion about it themselves, and not just go along with what everybody else does,\u201d she said. \u201cEvery time you choose to use an app, every time you choose to engage with something, you\u2019re voting for that. You\u2019re basically saying, \u2018I support this\u2019, and you help grow that.\u201d<\/p>\n
May\u2019s point about consumer choice finds a real-world echo in Olivia Bell\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
Bell, an App State alumna with a bachelor\u2019s in commercial photography and advertising, is an intern at women\u2019s clothing brand Altar\u2019d State. Her work consists of editing photos and videos, creating social media posts, and assisting with product photography.<\/p>\n
Bell\u2019s work consists of editing photos and videos, creating social media posts, and assisting with product photography.<\/p>\n
Bell said that in her role, she seldom touches AI. And from what she\u2019s seen from Altar\u2019d State, they do the same. Yet she still knows that AI is a rising tide in her field.<\/p>\n
She mentioned that there are multiple AI systems, such as Kittykat.ai, where users give the AI an image of a product, and it generates multiple versions of the image, displayed in different settings or styles, tailored to the user\u2019s prompts. Product detailing like this is a large part of Bell\u2019s job, so for an AI system to easily do it is \u201ca little scary.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess, in theory, if the company I\u2019m working at wanted to do that, it would probably save them a lot of time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Bell believes the future of human-made art lies in consumers\u2019 hands, pointing to clothing brand Anthropologie as an example. She and her peers admire the company for its handcrafted, tactile displays.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are paying so much money to buy from Anthropologie because they value artists,\u201d she said. \u201cI just think there\u2019s a lot of value in human-made art, especially when advertising for something.\u201d<\/p>\n
A recent Pew Research Center study found that many in Gen Z feel strongly against AI-generated art, echoing Cleaves\u2019 opinion. It found that 66% of adults under 30 say they would like a painting less if done by AI, and 53% would like a song less if they learned it was written by AI. In contrast, only 36% of Americans 65 and older said they would like a painting less if AI created it, and only 26% would feel the same about an AI-generated song.<\/p>\n
For Weaver, who has felt the sting of AI displacement firsthand, Gen Z\u2019s skepticism is grounds for hope. He knows that choosing human artists will cost more \u2014 in time or money \u2014 and that there\u2019s a risk creatives may produce something that doesn\u2019t market well. But he believes those costs will return in an \u201cinfinite amount of blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to have people willing to take the chance on beauty and on art, rather than on a dollar figure,\u201d Weaver said. \u201cI think that we have real hope here with Gen Z. Authenticity is huge for us. It could be super dope what you\u2019re doing, but if it\u2019s inauthentic, you\u2019re getting the middle finger from Gen Z.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOONE \u2014 Daniel Weaver, a recent Appalachian State graduate who does graphic design and freelance work, was thrilled…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33164,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,2966,25,21209,3144,21211,1548,1636,21213,21212,21210],"class_list":{"0":"post-33163","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ai","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-art","10":"tag-artificial-intelligence","11":"tag-cmyk-color-model","12":"tag-culture","13":"tag-cyan","14":"tag-generation-z","15":"tag-generative-artificial-intelligence","16":"tag-graphic-design","17":"tag-magenta","18":"tag-vision"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}