Maintaining the human edge in the AI revolution: 5 not-so-obvious tips

 

As any news headline will tell you, AI is probably here to stay. 

 

It does almost anything a human can – write emails, draft captions, jump on trends with design in seconds (check out SOCIATE’s stab at the current action figure trend here). But as AI floods the world, your humanness will be your competitive edge.

 

Rather than signing up “the next game-changing course that will save your job from being taken over by AI”, strengthen these distinctly human skills instead. 

 

1. Go on a pattern break

 

AI is only as good as its dataset. You, on the other hand, can take yourself out into the real world and fill your brain with a whole spectrum of fantastic inspiration. Expose yourself to everything, and see what connections your brain fires up. And the more offline your activities, the better. The physical world has layers of sensory and emotional depth that the digital world can’t compete with.

 

2. Be perfectly imperfect

 

Anyone who has toyed with AI visual generators will know that the results tend to be perfect – uncomfortably so. That slickness does something to the human brain. It feels “off” and generic, as countless AI generated visuals crop up, the more it will lose appeal. Human creativity though, there’s truly no limit to this. With our emotions, diverse backgrounds, and thousands of years of cultural evolution, we bring a certain richness to the table that can only be imitated, but never authentically created.

 

3. Design for emotion, not logic

 

AI tends to optimise for clicks, but these don’t lead to loyalty. As a living, feeling being – you understand emotions like AI simply cannot. Both the feel-good ones and the rough ones, so you also understand nuance. This inherently gives you a competitive advantage over AI, so use your emotions to truly address customer pain points.

 

4. Participate in experiences with no ROI

 

In a time where most experiences feel like pay-to-pay, it’s important to yourself (and your community) that not everything is about driving ROI. So take this understanding with you to networking events and creative gatherings. Engage in these activities to connect authentically and to create positive opportunities for the wider community. This will also serve as a refreshing reminder that money or status aren’t the end goal.

 

5. Play without purpose

 

AI doesn’t play. Instead it calculates, optimises, and completes the task.

 

Play can keep your creativity radically human, bringing forth AI-beating ideas that will surprise you. So doodle in the margins during your meetings, design a personal brand for your pet just for fun, and embrace the chaos of your own experience. 

 

AI might be changing the game, but it’s also predictable. It doesn’t know reality like humans do – the frustration of wanting to speak to a person rather than a chatbot when you have a complaint, the delight of receiving a surprise with your order, the inner feeling of togetherness when you read an unmistakably-human story.

 

So, be too human to replace. 

Tired of feeding your briefs to AI, and not quite getting the results you want? Collaborate with our creatives instead. From PR and social media marketing in Dubai to copywriting, design, and content creation – drop us a 👋 at [email protected]