Creativity, AI, Intuition, and the Future of our Craft

Thinking about it again and again, and accepting that it will truly transform our industry

Artificial intelligence has entered our world with the quiet confidence of things that are here to stay. At an exponential pace, it now accompanies our everyday actions, simplifies our work, and even anticipates our intentions, or so it seems. It promises speed, precision, and ease. This is all deeply appealing to the communications and marketing industry. Lower costs. Faster turnaround. Access to vast reserves of data. Appealing hardly does it justice.

In reality, AI is reshaping some of our most deeply rooted habits, both personal and professional. Some, captivated, see it as the answer to long-standing flaws, the ideal ally in a quest for objectivity and efficiency. Others glimpse the risk of a dehumanized world. Yet, AI is neither an enemy nor a miracle. Approached thoughtfully, it offers a new opportunity: to understand ourselves better, to expand our thinking, to reinvent our ways of working, and perhaps to gain deeper self-awareness. With nuance, of course.

Conversations about the future of creativity in the communications and marketing industry should be everywhere. And yet, I don’t sense a true feeling of urgency. To protect creativity, we need to ask uncomfortable questions. Will our industry be replaced or simply reduced? Can AI truly erode our ability to connect brands with humans? Talking about it and thinking about it is also a way of protecting ourselves, of keeping control over creativity as we know it: imperfect, sometimes chaotic, often anti-algorithmic, and yet the very force that has delivered meaningful performance for more than 50 years. That is far from insignificant.

Creativity that moves us, challenges us, and makes us think, both in life and in our industry, will always be rare and precious, even if some doubt it. Let’s be honest: we may not be as creative as we like to believe. Everything is relative. If our industry is sometimes “lazy” with creativity, could this so-called threat become a wake-up call, a catalyst for better work? The hard truth is this: the more we settle for ordinary creativity, the more we accelerate the machine’s role. Giving technology a seat at the table does not diminish human intelligence. It acknowledges that our craft must evolve and open itself to new perspectives.

AI fuels thinking. It makes it faster and more efficient. But without human intuition, it is never an end in itself. We sometimes imagine AI as the ultimate source of objectivity, but that idea is misleading. Algorithms, no matter how sophisticated, depend on the data we feed them, data shaped by our biases, cultures, and choices. AI is neither neutral nor infallible. It can be wrong. It can even hallucinate, as we have seen with popular models like ChatGPT, which are capable of inventing information to satisfy users. In that sense, we have created something like a second brain. Not necessarily smarter or more creative, but faster and more efficient. A complement, not a replacement. Creativity and innovation emerge from what we did not see coming, from the unexpected, from what no one considers at first glance. Algorithms rarely go there. They generate what is familiar, agreed upon, and expected by the majority. A nuance worth remembering.

Still, we must leap. We must dive in. The debate is not “with” or “without,” but simply “how.” Seen the right way, AI multiplies perspectives and reveals blind spots. In doing so, it sharpens our critical thinking and our ability to discern. It strengthens that sixth sense, the simple but essential habit of asking: Is this right? Should we continue? Can we believe in this?

What matters most is keeping a sense of proportion. AI will remain a tool as long as it is embedded in a search for meaning, in a dialogue where humans remain responsible for direction, both personally and professionally. And as long as we resist slipping into a kind of digital proletariat that would ultimately push humanity aside.

This transformation, learning to live and collaborate with AI, brings one thing into sharper focus: the vital importance of human intuition and that sixth sense, the human algorithm, if you will. The one that separates true from false, that sees what no one else has seen, that allows us to remain in control. I believe deeply in the power of AI, in its transformative force, and in what it can bring, so long as human intuition remains the lighthouse.