Tired to read about AI nonsense

[u/arnauddsj]

Sorry for the rant but I’m tired of all these messages from young people saying they quit freelancing or their graphic design studies because “AI can generate images.” So what?

You think a marketing or brand director is gonna fire their graphic designer and start creating visual campaigns themselves by prompting an AI? Then what, he sends his “ready to print” files (300dpi, with bleeds and all that shite) to the printer, who replies “Sorry, this isn’t even CMYK…”? Or probably the AI will generate the 100 banners in 10 formats the e-commerce team need for their affiliation campaign.

And now developers don’t even need to talk to UI designers anymore. They build faster with AI, so of course, they’ll just prompt the design themselves too.

Wait, never mind. Developers are gone too because AI took their jobs.

So I guess it’s just one CEO now, prompting all day.

Stop the nonsense. Maybe you're just looking for an excuse to give up or be lazy. And for those who are ready to get sh*t done, good for them, less competition.

[u/Own_Writer2427]

You're missing the point though. The problem is not that GD will disappear, it's that a company will need only one or two GD instead of hiring more since the use of AI helps do the work faster. So there will be a fierce competition between GD job seekers for limited positions.

[u/Religion_Of_Speed → u/Own_Writer2427]

Exactly this, plus we will now be expected to utilize AI in our work and because of that will now be expected to take on duties not in the normal realm of design to a greater extent than recent times. "Graphic designer" now means motion designer, video editor, web designer, and web developer in some cases. Probably forgot a few things there too. I'm holding on to refusing to use AI beyond the occasional generative fill in Photoshop but I fear this is going to be quite difficult in the future.

Like pretend we're fish in a pond. AI isn't killing the fish, it's draining the water to make the pond smaller so only the super-adaptable and experienced fish will survive. Meaning there is no room for entry level positions, which means there's nobody coming up to be trained, and then we lose experience when the older designers retire. A similar thing happened in the trades, like welders and electricians. Different causes but it's the same end result, there was a huge dip in entry level workers and now we're running out of people who know how to do those jobs and all the experienced workers are retiring. That's just speaking for graphic designers, not all of the positions we will now fill because of the job duty expansion. That means for all the categories I listed above there will be the exact same problems, possibly amplified if they can't handle basic graphic design duties. Their employer will just find someone who can do both and will be okay with accepting less pay because if the market is that competitive companies can actually start an underpayment war. We'll be forced to take what we can get.

Alternatively, since generating AI images isn't all that difficult, there might be an exodus of experienced designers causing sort of the opposite problem. There won't be any senior positions, it'll all just be general graphic design aka AI prompter and the field will lose all upward mobility, then there's just no reason to go into the field, then we lose the true designers and only have AI prompters. You can pay an AI prompter a whole hell of a lot less and they can "do" the job of many. They do it poorly but the people in charge probably don't give a shit if it's better than what they can do. Side rant: Since when did someone with no experience become a measuring stick? "It's better than I can do" is a phrase for defending bad work that's becoming a lot more common. Maybe "it's better than what the competition is doing" would be a better measure.

I don't blame anyone for calling it quits and going off to find more stable work. I'm considering it myself, breaking my back working on cars or returning to the kitchen sounds a whole lot better than fighting with kids who are more familiar with AI than design. I'd prefer to work in an industry that I know will at least exist in 10 years.

[u/Own_Writer2427 → u/Religion_Of_Speed]

I agree with everything you said. I'm even considering changing careers myself. I'm sick of always adapt to the demands of companies, having to know every field related to GD. It's great to learn new things but when they all become requirements for a job interview, it's really annoying. I dont particularly like coding, and my previous company told me it would be better if i learn coding so they dont have to hire a developer. GD is just becoming ridiculous.

Plus as you've said, the new ones coming will be much better at AI than doing the real work, or will just be immersed in the thinking part rather than the doing part. For me AI gets in the way of GD. Automaton can be a good thing but AI will make designers lazy and only into thinking mode rather than thinking/doing mode.

[u/Religion_Of_Speed → u/Own_Writer2427]

It's a wild time. I just hope that the wheel turns fast enough for me to come out the other side as one of the few experienced designers left. The bummer is I'm right at the age where it would be wise to have my career kinda locked in. But shit will the world even be around for it to pay off?