'Creative Artificial Intelligence' May Put Crappy Graphic Designers Out of Work

Old-school graphic designers -- like the inimitable Milton Glaser -- have long poo-poo'd software that relies on templates and algorithms to achieve in seconds what used to take hours and days. Well, you fans of the hand-set type, your Antichrist has arrived in the form of Creative Artificial Intelligence (CAI), a new software out of Paris that completely automates the ad-production process.

BETC Euro RSCG developed CAI "to make a point about the creative process," according to the New York Times. The user inputs the type of product and the general message of a given ad, and CAI then spits out three different layouts from its collection of stock photos and sample copy. After witnessing a recent demonstration of the tech, the Times called the results "bland and formulaic -- but perfectly acceptable -- ads that could run in magazines or newspapers, as banners on Web sites or on billboards."

But designers need not shake in their Varvatos boots just yet. Although CAI's system could turn out the terrible ads seen on most website sidebars (and it's a wonder that live humans create those in the first place), the results are meant to spur the creative process -- to show designers what not to do.

The homogenization of modern advertising inspired BETC Euro RSCG to develop CAI, as Stephane Xiberras, president and executive creative director, told the Times. "In a world where it is increasingly difficult to get brands' messages to emerge, there is a growing standardization of advertising," he said, noting that the "reconstitution of already existing ideas and forms" paved the way for the formula-driven software. So, we fight sameness with more-of-the-sameness? Hey, it's so ironic, it just might work.

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