Imagining your impossible problems
First published in CreativePool
Simon Richings, London’s ECD offers an insight on how artificial intelligence (AI) can be harnessed as a unique opportunity for creatives, ahead of his talk with Miguel Alvarez, director of technology at Connect London.
But the talk will look to steer away from simply demonstrating it as a means of replicating human activity and instead highlight its potential for solving “impossible” problems.
“You’ve got the hype cycle; that curve where everyone’s saying, ‘oh my god, look at this new thing’ whether it’s been AI, virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality,” says Richings.
“There’s that initial burst of incredible enthusiasm for something and people don’t quite know what to do with it. But what Miguel and I are interested in is what AI can help brands and other organisations do that’s so far been impossible.”
It usually takes a while for new tech to find its most effective fit in the world but AnalogFolk’s session aims to encourage creatives to consider the possibilities beyond simply trying to re-enact what “regular humans” can do.
“Humans are these messy, emotional beings and technology tends to be hard, clean and crisp but how do you make those two worlds compatible?”
“Stop getting caught up in the technological possibilities and start imagining what Miguel and I call ‘impossible problems,’” says Richings. “What if brands or any organisation found what their impossible problems are? And if they had some kind of magic to solve them, how would they do it?”
Starting his career as a print graphic designer in Bristol, Richings has come a long way to occupy his current role overseeing AnalogFolk’s creative output. Part of the agency’s mission is to make the analog — or human — world better by utilising digital.
“Humans are these messy, emotional beings and technology tends to be hard, clean and crisp but how do you make those two worlds compatible? We’re a bit about that but also about making the world better; let’s try not to create things that people don’t want,” he adds.
The ECD isn’t shy to admit he’s a better writer than he was a designer and believes storytelling holds the key to unlocking AI’s potential in the creative world. The balance between him as the creative guy and Alvarez as the tech person makes for the perfect fit.
“We want to promote interesting new things that really help people and aren’t just a media stunt or a demonstration of fakery,” adds Richings. “They are quite hard to talk about because they’re all brand new and no one’s done them yet but that’s where we think AI as a force in a creative business can do extraordinary things.”
“VR’s an interesting one because there’s been lots of VR experiences that are very underwhelming and then people start to become disinterested in it.”
Until now a lot of the buzz surrounding AI includes demonstrations such as painting pictures or carrying out simple traditional creative tasks. What Richings wants to encourage is innovative thinking about actions that haven’t yet being done. VR is another format that has been tipped as the next big thing in tech, but it too went through a period of basic experimentation.
Richings refers to an experience called Star Wars Secrets of the Empire as one that really cut through and was an authentic fit for the medium. “VR’s an interesting one because there’ve been lots of experiences that are very underwhelming and then people start to become disinterested in it,” he explains. But he argues that great stories done well are what make any technology worthwhile and better understood.
Away from his session on the potential of AI when aligned with creativity, Richings says the biggest challenge facing the creative industry right now is the never-ending tide of media and content.
“There’s so much stuff out there whether it’s been created by individuals or companies but it’s vast amounts of spam.”
“There’s so much stuff out there whether it’s been created by individuals or companies but it’s vast amounts of spam. It’s just so much stuff, more stuff than there has ever been all battling for attention,” say the ECD.
“Google and Facebook would say the answer is relevance and carefully targeting in news feeds so you only see things that you’re likely to be interested in. But if everything in your feed is relevant, that’s still a hell of a lot of stuff.”
He adds: “If it’s all relevant, how do you break out of those formats and do things that are interesting and meaningful to really resonate with people and aren’t just stuck in a news feed? That’s the big challenge.”
Rchings ends by outlining his hopes for his session, entitled Augmenting Creativity: How AI and Humans can get along: “I hope people come away excited about the possibilities of AI but also thinking about the impossible problems and amazing things they could do with it. Not just thinking of it as this toolset for media at scale or for duplicating what humans can do.”
See Simon Richings and Miguel Alvarez on The Leaders Stage sponsored by RTL AdConnect on Thursday 22 November at 9.10am. Click here to book tickets and see the full two-day Connect: London agenda.
Originally published at analogfolk.com.
