The Challenge for Creatives facing AI
- xavmotion
- Aug 18, 2025
- 3 min read
AI is advancing rapidly. Today, everyone is amazed by the performance of Google Veo 3, which can generate videos almost indistinguishable from reality. This leads us to a stark realization: AI is here to stay and shows no signs of slowing down. Tools are continually improving and edging out the competition a little more each day.
Given this, are creative professions doomed to disappear? Very likely, similar to the digital revolution, teams will shrink, and new skills will emerge.
However, while AI offers a new generation of ultra-powerful tools that seem almost magical, it also brings a host of challenges that we must carefully consider.
Copyright and Image Rights
When ChatGPT introduced the feature to generate images inspired by Miyazaki, the founder of Studio Ghibli, the masses followed. However, many fans and professionals raised concerns about copyright violations. While many compared the generated images to fan art, this is a misunderstanding. Fan art aims to pay homage by reappropriating themes or characters and blending the original artist's traits with those of the fan artist, not to replicate an artist's style to the point of passing it off as their own.
Artists often see their creations stolen by AI models. Consider the case of Kim Jung Gi, who had a unique and recognizable style. His work was used posthumously to train a model that can now generate new images identical to his style. This practice has been strongly disapproved by his close ones and admirers. These considerations around copyright highlight significant ethical issues, not to mention the concerns around deepfakes and other malicious misuses of others' images by ill-intentioned internet users.
If ongoing lawsuits against companies like ChatGPT or Midjourney result in judges rejecting the "fair use" argument in American law—that is, the fair and equitable use of another artist's work—it will set an unprecedented legal precedent that could strengthen copyright protections.
Therefore, as creators, if we choose to use AI among our tools, our role is to ensure the respect of copyright for our clients, agencies, and audiences. This can involve a rigorous curation of reference works and advanced reappropriation and modification efforts to ensure that the generated work can be deemed original.
Beyond copyright, when I saw the trend of "starter packs," I wondered: where is the originality if everyone produces the same thing? Where is the interest, where is the authenticity?
The second challenge for creatives is to ensure a coherent and unique approach to creating truly original content and avoiding the "photocopier" effect created by the hype around trends amplified by the ease of access to AI. Awareness of this approach can significantly impact audience engagement.
GDPR Compliance
Alongside the ethical issue of copyright, there is also a challenge around GDPR compliance, which major AI players are not entirely forthcoming about. All collected data is stored on servers based in the United States, and it is highly likely that this data is reinjected into datasets with or without our consent. This is a criterion to consider if you are required to modify confidential data and images provided by a client or partner.
The power usage
Finally, even though the debate on this subject is extremely lively—ranging from relativism and denial to techno-solutionism, or conversely, calls for total climate apocalypse—we know with certainty that AI usage will only continue to grow. Beyond the demand for data servers, there is a new demand for computing farms filled with GPUs that are far more energy-intensive than simple storage. This impacts energy consumption and water usage for cooling GPUs and servers. Moreover, the rebound effect systematically shows that after each innovation, instead of compensating for or reducing our energy need, we tend to increase it. For example, buying an electric car should drastically lower my carbon footprint.
However, I now feel much less guilty about using my electric car for short trips and weekend getaways. As a result, my overall energy demand increases.
In conclusion, the challenge is not to be for or against AI but to use it in an informed and thoughtful manner. What is certain, and probably good news, is that this digital revolution prompts us to question our practices and our purpose as creators. A hybrid approach, balancing original creation and AI-enhanced results, seems like a likely future. Each creator must find their method, technique, and style. Let's not forget that AI is a new tool— not just any tool, as we have seen, but ultimately, just a tool.
If you want to discuss and exchange ideas on a motion design creation project, you can book a call with me via the contact section here.
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