If you’re anything like me and work in the creative industry, you’ll know how relentless the conversation around artificial intelligence has become. Not long ago, I remember AI-generated art as something of a joke—a parade of awkward faces and surreal-looking objects. Fast-forward to today, and I find myself second-guessing which campaign visuals are made by hand and which were sparked by an algorithm. It’s both amazing and, honestly, a bit unsettling.
This whole transformation leaves me with tough questions: Are the days numbered for art directors, photographers, illustrators—people like myself and my team? Or, could this be the start of a smarter era where AI becomes our creative sidekick, letting us shed the repetitive bits and focus on strategy and big ideas?
The Dawn of Generative Creation
What I’ve witnessed, especially in recent months, is the arrival of generative art platforms that hit astonishing levels of detail and realism. I’ve played around with AI tools where you simply describe what you want—“Show me a Parisian street at sunset, shot on a vintage lens”—and, within seconds, something impressive appears. What really strikes me isn’t just the persuasiveness of the image, but how much control is suddenly at our fingertips. Mastering these prompts (I’ve caught myself composing paragraph-long descriptions just to get the mood right) is becoming its own creative skill.
Where Ethics and Technology Collide
Of course, as these tools expand, so do efforts to police their misuse. I appreciate that many platforms automatically block hateful or violent content. And yet, their capabilities are evolving fast. Some let you “outpaint”—that is, keep building outside the canvas of a classic painting, conjuring entirely new scenes in the spirit of the original. Pretty mind-bending! But there are still limits: I’ve noticed that complex human moments—like a genuine hug or a nuanced facial expression—tend to trip up the latest AIs. Often, I have to stitch together results from different tools or tweak faces myself. These workarounds remind me that, while powerful, AI is still a tool that requires active guidance.
AI: A Creative Spark, Not a Replacement
The million-euro question: Is AI coming for our jobs in creative departments? In my view, that isn’t likely. My own experience shows me that AI shines with things like speedy mockups or fleshing out early ideas—stuff that used to eat up far too much of my team’s day. Freed from repetitive tasks, art directors and designers like us can do what we do best: think strategically, push concepts further, and connect brands with audiences on a deeper level. It’s not unlike the leap from analog to digital—you gain efficiency, but creative vision still matters most.
At Full House Partners, we integrate AI to make production swifter—generating several layout options in minutes or quickly shaping visual possibilities for clients. Yet, it’s still our intuition and judgment deciding what fits a client’s identity, and what just doesn’t click.
Prompts: Creativity Reimagined
One trend I find fascinating is how writing prompts has grown into a new craft—some now call it “prompt engineering.” It reminds me so much of drafting a creative brief: you have to clearly channel strategy, aesthetics, and references, and the better your prompt, the stronger the result. I’ve even seen colleagues trade, or sell, their best prompts online! Still, no matter how advanced an AI gets, interpreting and curating its output remains deeply human work—something many of us actually find energizing.
Brand Identity: Consistency in a Fast-changing Age
AI’s power extends far beyond playful mock-ups. I regularly see tools that, after learning your brand’s visual DNA—color schemes, fonts, and design quirks—can generate images and styles that fit seamlessly with other brand content. Paired with AI that mirrors a brand’s “voice” in text, this makes orchestrating coherent campaigns faster than I ever thought possible. Even then, that human oversight—making sure nothing feels off-brand—remains irreplaceable.
I can’t help but be curious: With AI already dabbling in video, animation, and even scriptwriting, how far are we from full campaigns designed by algorithms? Perhaps not as far as we imagine! And yet, the one constant is our need for original thinking—our ability to dream up what’s meaningful, ethical, and new. At Full House Partners, AI is simply an ally, pushing us to sharpen our strategy and creativity even further. Welcoming AI, thoughtfully and responsibly, is a natural part of our commitment to innovation. It’s how we stay fresh and deliver real results for clients in a market that never stands still.