Hi,

Unless you were living under a rock recently, you probably saw the conversation around ChatGPT’s new 4o image generation tool.

It’s their most advanced image generation tool yet - the results are impressive and astonishing to say the least. It’s probably one of the most fascinating use cases of AI I’ve seen yet and it got me thinking about how the technology will impact the creative landscape now and in years to come.

Let’s dive in ⬇️

OpenAI took the world by storm recently when it introduced ChatGPT’s new 4o image prompting model. It’s maybe the most advanced image prompting model out on the market and by far the most advanced I’ve ever seen.

Lots of the conversation has centered around:

a) how this advancement is going to impact marketing and graphic designers

b) the use of a design style known as Studio Ghibli

I spent a good amount of time the last few days playing around with it and I can’t lie…it’s fun.

Like really fun. And really good.

I was able to create a comic book strip within 5 minutes using this prompt.

Here’s the storyboard it made for me:

It’s not 100% accurate compared to the script, but here’s the image:

As I started going down the rabbit hole and experimenting with different types of prompts, it got my brain whirring with tons of questions…

_{Long term future of graphic design}

With AI being this good, this early…what does it mean for the long term future of creatives? How will graphic designers be impacted as this technology develops and top notch cartoons, artwork, and visual design work can be created within minutes, if not seconds?

While it creates more resources for some, it will inevitably take away resources for others.

Will it potentially affect the livelihood of graphic designers and artists? Will they lose business to ChatGPT?

We’re in the early stages right now so the prompting isn’t 100% - it’s challenging to make specific tweaks to certain elements. As the technology develops though, we will inevitably get to a point where you’ll be able to hyperfocus on the sections you want to fix and ChatGPT will be able to fix it within seconds.

When there’s a world where you can create the exact artwork you want, fix any changes, and do it for free (or based on whatever plan you have) within minutes, how does that affect the creator system?

_{Will the future go to prompting?}

Part of me thinks we’re entering a world where creative execution may become commoditized. Pretty soon, there’s a chance that we live in a world where being able to execute and create will no longer set you apart from the rest, simply because ChatGPT is now offering that ability to almost everyone on the planet.

The graphic designer with their own style and ability to execute by creating beautiful artwork may now be competing with AI. Maybe as execution becomes potentially commoditzed, the value of being able to prompt goes up?

Maybe it’s not about who can execute the best but who can prompt and steer the AI the best - who has the best ideas and who can do the most with the technology that becomes available to everyone.

_{What happen when this impacts video?}

Who knows how far away we are but what happens when ChatGPT introduces the same breakthrough techology for video? When you can create a beautiful cinematic music video, commercial, short film, etc just by prompting?

Will everyone be creating high quality beautiful cinematic visuals?

Will marketing and artist rollouts be more unique and creative as resources and power get distributed across more people or will it be so commoditized that it becomes commonplace to see artists create art with production value at tens of thousands of dollars for very little money?

What happens when there’s technology that allows you to upload videos and with some prompting, you can tell it what lyrics to add, where to add it, what transitions you want, etc? What happens when anyone can make animations?

The artists that have an advantage right now by building their own systems and content engines, does that advantage go away when everyone has access to that?

_{Studio Ghibli}

Much of the conversation around this new image prompting is focused on people enjoying making images in the style of Studio Ghibli - an animation design style made popular by Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. The images are in a very specific style and it’s clear they’re all derived from the same creative through line.

Is it fair that millions (or billions of people potentially) have the ability to create in the style of Studio Ghibli, using its exact design style and “likeness” without Studio Ghibli getting compensated?

Should Studio Ghibli have been paid via a licensing fee in exchange for their style being available?

If there is a world where they are paid in exchange, can the same idea apply to other creators? For example, what if ChatGPT offered the ability for creators to license / sell their design styles for general use amongst users - that way creators get paid every time someone uses something that they created. Almost like an NFT with recurring revenue being generated with every use .

Is it fair that I can upload an example artwork from my favorite graphic designer and then ask ChatGPT to create something in that same style? What if that designer was a pioneer and invented or popularized a new style - is it fair that the entire world gets to borrow something that they created without them being compensated?

_{AI Content ID}

As these design styles get better and better, what are the consequences (if any) when AI artwork becomes rampant?

Will ChatGPT encrypt files with a tag that signals it was made with AI whenever that file is uploaded somewhere?

If so, would music streaming services tag or note artwork as being made with AI?

How does that affect content on YouTube made with that AI content? Does it still have the same shot at hitting the algorithm?

Will AI artwork be eligible for the “Best Recording Package” award at the Grammys?

_{The barriers to entry are collapsing}

The conventional barriers to entry are collapsing faster than we’ve ever seen.

At some point soon they’ll be nonexistent.

I can’t lie, it’s a scary thought that gives me mixed feelings.

On the one hand…artists, creatives, and their teams will have access to resources they never had before. Artists with little to no resources will now have more opportunity than ever at their fingertips to create and support their art.

Artists will be able to use these tools to world build, scale their businesses, and do things they’ve never done before.

On the other hand…what is already an incredibly oversaturated market will likely become more saturated. It will probably become harder to cut through with even more content being created and posted every single day - soon the ability to create content at scale will become more available to every artist and creator in the world.

What happens when everyone is scaling and pumping out content at the same volume? How do you break through that?

As hard as it is to break through now, if the ability to create more content at higher quality becomes available to more people, what does that world look like?

How will likeness and style in art be regulated in ways that are fair to those who created it? Who defines what “fair” is anymore?

It’s a weird, fascinating, and scary time. I’m not really sure how I feel about we’re all along for the ride.

What do you think? How are you thinking about this stuff? Feel free to respond and let me know.

Thanks for reading, until next time.

_{The Vault}

1) Chirr App - Chirr App is one of the best apps I’ve seen at letting you schedule individual tweets as well as threads. It helps format threads while you’re typing and makes it easy to schedule and draft content. It’s perfect for content creators. HERE

2) The Artist Marketing Playbook - I teamed up with my good friend and fellow music marketing expert Drew De Leon to present The Artist Marketing Playbook. An in-depth look at what an artist can do to set themselves up for success in 2025. More info HERE.