“If You are Scared about What’s Happening in AI” - Steven Bartlett
The Diary of a CEO, Steven Bartlett posted on Linkedin.
“In the last 48 hours, my mind has been completely blown… ChatGPT’s new tool really is going to impact everything… 👇🏾
If you missed it, ChatGPT’s new image tool allows you to create any high-quality image by simply describing what you want - be it an illustration, a photorealistic photograph with overlaid text, a product shot featuring models, a billboard advertisement… anything - and it does it in seconds, for virtually free.
Beyond creation, the tool can transform existing images. Upload a photo, and it can analyse, edit, or enhance it based on your instructions - handling tasks like adding text, adjusting elements, or applying new styles with remarkable precision.
The boundaries between imagination and reality are completely disappearing.
This might sound like hyperbole, but the profundity of this shift cannot be overstated.
Before I go further, it’s important to say this: my default reaction is excitement, and my default response is to lean in - not just to this, but to all change. Why?
Because this is the greatest opportunity of our lifetime. Change destroys old value and creates profound opportunity for those who lean in.
Each time creation becomes cheap, value has to find a new home.
Great companies, products, and innovations are so often born in the confusion, procrastination, and paralysis that change creates.
💥 And this is one of those moments…”
I am, ‘leaning in’.
I use AI software within my post workflow. It renders in editing, such as upresing HD to 4K, better than we ever could before and in a fraction of the time. However, AI imaging, while innovative, cannot replicate the human essence of filmmaking and photography. Capturing an image through a lens is more than technical execution - it’s an act of intention, emotion, and connection. Filmmakers and photographers embed their perspective into choices of framing, timing, and interaction with subjects, shaped by lived experience and empathy. AI lacks consciousness; it mimics aesthetics but cannot feel or infuse images with vulnerability, ethical nuance, or authentic storytelling. Human image creation, with a lens, thrives on serendipity - fleeting moments, imperfect textures, and ethical engagement with subjects. AI-generated visuals are devoid of the trust, collaboration, and moral responsibility inherent in human artistry.
I believe that consumers, your customers, do not want to feel duped. AI imaging needs to be labelled as AI. We need meaningful AI regulations.
As Steven says “Each time creation becomes cheap, value has to find a new home”. As image creaters the real ‘value’ comes from real images. A camera is a tool of dialogue; AI can replicate pixels, not the soul behind them. We can all ‘lean in’ to that.