Am I afraid that creative AI might make my job disappear ? Yes and no, actually. Yes, because the number of customers who will turn to AIs for their ease of use will grow, and we can therefore fear that the market for “human” illustration will shrink. Many of these customers already don’t use an illustrator and buy a ready-made image from an image bank. Custom illustrations don’t meet their needs. Today, AIs can create custom illustrations with the same ease as buying an image from an image bank. This is bound to convert customers who, until now, still needed an illustrator.

AIs are therefore likely to expand the illustration market, as they will facilitate access to it for many people who today make little or no use of it. This is fortunate, because while writing and speech are extremely valuable means of conveying ideas, they also contribute to a form of intellectual elitism. Images broaden the circle of thought, whether they are used in conjunction with the spoken word, to facilitate access, or on their own, to awaken our interest in a subject in a different way. So I have the feeling that the more illustrations there are, the more we will collectively progress towards a more “enlightened” society.

Can the expansion of the illustration market also expand the market for human illustration, or at least maintain it? Or should we fear that the latter will shrink? I don’t think anyone has an answer to that question. And so yes, I’m a little afraid that flesh-and-blood illustrators will be less in demand than they were yesterday and today.

But on the other hand, I’m confident because buying an illustration is also very often part of a global approach that involves working in a team, exchanging ideas and imagining together, and in this context, an illustrator can be part of the team and contribute her ideas. In my opinion, sharing with another human being will always be an irreplaceably meaningful experience. In fact, I have the impression that the unease of many workers today is largely due to the reduction of sensibility in their daily lives.

AI can also be used in teamwork, but the approach is not the same. When you work with an AI, there’s no mistaking the fact that it’s similar to a human being : you can ask it the same question a thousand times, adding different parameters to the question, until you’re satisfied with the result, and the AI doesn’t get tired or share its moods with you. There’s no doubt about the fact that we’re working with a machine. It’s us humans who project our thought patterns onto them and let ourselves be confused by appearances, because we’re sensitive, and too much insensitivity is hard to imagine. It’s also because everything is done to make appearances more and more deceptive. Let’s hope that regulation will come soon in this area, so that regular warnings about the lack of awareness of AIs are issued during their use.

In the end, for certain quick projects, where two or three illustrations are needed within the hour, and where we anticipate that the boss will ask us ten times to redo something because it’s missing, we’ll use AI as a tool, as an image-producing machine. These will be the kind of quick-fix, well-done projects we’ll be doing dozens of times a year, but which will soon be forgotten. And then for other projects, where the stakes are high, where we’ve put our heart and soul into it, where we feel involved as a person, as a human being, we’ll want another human being to share it with us, and we’ll want an image charged with meaning. And for that, the fact that it was made by a human being will count. Because this project will count, we won’t want to see in small print at the bottom of the image “produced by AI n°X”, we’ll want there to be a person’s name.

“But why ? The reader doesn’t care, she doesn’t look at the small print at the bottom of the image”. First of all, some readers do care, and it may be important for you to take care of what you want to convey to your readers as an overall narrative, given your values, your relationship to authenticity in a world where the artificial takes up so much space.

But beyond the concern for your image vis-à-vis your target audience, it will be important to have a person’s name at the bottom of the image for yourself. Your readers may not look at the fine print, but you’ll know that the image has a soul. AIs don’t have a conscience, they never will. An artist’s job is to touch souls with his fingertips by putting his own soul into his creations.

I hope that my paintings, however realistic they may be, create that little moment of pause in some people, that little moment that makes you say, here I am, with all my senses, I’m a human being.

See you soon.

Lucile

PS: to see what my paintings look like, click here.

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