Not too long ago, I created an AI-generated phone commercial - that was hilariously horrible.
Well, in the words of the illustrious Britney Spears (who I’m pretty sure I can’t @ here)… “Oops, I’ve done it again.”
Some back story (that may get me in some trouble).
My wife (also not going to @ her… because… well, this will be obvious) found my first AI-generated commercial also hilariously horrible, but we both marveled at the notion that this is in the realm of possible.
Then recently this WhatsApp exchange happened.
Her: New iPhone commercial idea. Girl drops iPhone in pedicure tub.
Her: This was me.
Me: (pausing first, realizing she’s messaging me from her phone so all must be ok) Ok, I’ll make that.
Her: All the girls at the salon knew what to do. Happens all the time.
I’d argue the resulting video commercial is slightly less horrible than my last one - so hey, I’m improving!
The more interesting point
There is so much discourse about AI replacing our jobs. It is a surreal experience for me that AI (in this case Google Veo) enables me to create this at all - but there’s clearly so much nuance that comes into play in creating great content that serves its purpose.
While no doubt there will be AI displacement of roles in the future, I like to think my horrible commercial examples highlight that there’s an important role for humans to play in our future leveraging AI.
AI gives anyone the superpower to create. It still takes a human to know what’s worth making.
The bar for “possible” just collapsed. The bar for “good” did not. That gap - between what you can produce and what is actually worth watching - is where every creative job is migrating. Taste, judgment, and the ability to spot the moment your spouse hands you a perfect 6-second story over WhatsApp.
For now, anyway, that’s still distinctly human work.
