It’s OK to curb your enthusiasm on AI

We’ve published quite a bit of content on artificial intelligence over the years. A quick scan of our website shows an article dating back to 2018 that mentions researchers at Hong Kong Polytechnic University using AI to detect textile defects. Somewhere on a server containing older issues of the magazine and online content, there are probably even earlier mentions of AI.

More recently, as AI tools have become more accessible to small businesses, we’ve made a point to share the advances that experts in the print industry have used to push boundaries of both design and efficiency. In 2022, Michelle Chiantera addressed AI in an online article titled, “2023 and the future of digital design.” Here’s what she had to say: “While big changes and innovation are often met with skepticism, the scope for innovative, creative possibilities that AI brings to the design world is endless. This is an exciting space that savvy industry leaders will need to watch closely in 2023.”

It’s amazing to think that not even three years ago we were talking about AI as something to watch, something that savvy industry leaders would utilize. Today? AI is baked into Photoshop and accessible to anyone, as Stephen Romaniello shares in “Your guide to Photoshop AI” in our June print issue. Stephen is far from the only one extolling the virtue of AI in our pages. In the past couple of years, Marshall Atkinson has introduced readers to AI for image generation, business operations, and even website creation through vibe coding. Aaron Montgomery, Lon Winters, and Cole Lundstrom have all tackled the topic of AI for us. Cole, perhaps, landed my favorite GRAPHICS PRO headline to date with “AI art sucks & I can’t stop using it” in our March issue this year.

All this is to say that while we make it a point here to keep our readers up to date with how AI can make their business lives better, I greatly appreciate Clay Barbera’s perspective in his article on page 48 of this issue: “New technologies are rarely understood & AI is no exception.” Clay’s message: Pump the brakes. Clay reminds us, through examples from the steam power to the internet, that human advances (is that what we call AI?) often appear, at first, more useful than they are. For artificial intelligence to be useful, he reminds us, it requires training in understanding prompts and descriptions, and — most importantly in our industry — it requires a basic understanding of graphic design.

We’re already seeing far too many online shops automating drop-shipped lazy AI design. I wholeheartedly agree with Clay in saying, as he closes out his article, “Embrace the technology (it’s too late not to) but treat it as exactly what it is: a powerful new tool that demands significant time and learning to yield useful results.”

James Anderson

Editor-in-chief