When the advertising community arrives for Cannes Lions every June, marketers are looking for examples of outstanding excellence in the creative process. This year, they will likely also be discussing how technologies like generative AI will play a part of that process – and Billy Seabrook has an analogy that could help.

According to the global chief design officer of IBM iX, the experience design arm of IBM Consulting, the surge of interest in generative AI solutions such as ChatGPT only hints at how humans will leverage the power of large language models (LLMs). Yes, it will help augment tasks such as brainstorming for creative ideas and iterating large numbers of prototypes. However, the biggest impact may be on the evolution of what creative directors do.

“It's a transition from being a creator to a curator,” Seabrook told Brand Innovators in a recent interview alongside his colleague, Alexis Zamkow, intelligent marketing global offering lead for IBM Consulting. “Over the years, we’ve gone from the individual design specialist being the source of creativity to a much more democratized way of doing design, where squads of people accelerate the creative process.”

The next wave will magnify the democratization of design 100x, Seabrook said. It could mean everything from drastically shorter production times for campaign development to rapid development and customization of digital experiences such as mobile apps.

As a result, creative directors will not only have to develop their skills in using generative AI tools and prompts to get the right outcomes. They’ll also have to help adjust teams to those accelerated workflows.

“It’s about making sure you're going through the right steps – that you're doing the right checks and balances, and you're not releasing work too quickly,” he said. “You have to put in guardrails to make sure that you're not moving too fast. Otherwise, there will be unintended consequences that could harm the brand.”

IBM Consulting will be assisting brands in this area through the creation of its Center of Excellence for generative AI within IBM Consulting that will boast more than 1,000 consultants with specialized expertise in generative AI and how it can be applied to both internal workflows and customer experiences. Then there’s the IBM watsonx platform, which contains the three elements Seabrook says are essential to success in this space: data management tools, generative AI capabilities and data governance features.

In a new survey of marketers in the U.S., IBM found that 67% of CMOs are planning to use generative AI over the next year, and 55% even said it would change their relationship with their agencies. On the flip side, the biggest issue keeping them up at night with regards to AI Is the complexity of implementing such a powerful tool. 

It will take time for marketers and their agency partners to determine who does what in terms of creating, iterating and approving ad creative as they adopt generative AI. Zamkow recommends that they initially focus on what the technology means for their end customer to help prioritize their efforts.

“You're going to have generative AI that can be scanning through what's happening in the market, what consumers are saying, and bring that in a summarized and an intelligent view back to the marketing team,” she said, adding that the actions they take no longer have to be one-size-fits-all. “Marketers will be able to say, ‘I've got these six different personas, can you take my brand message and customize it to each one?’”

Seabrook and Zamkow encouraged marketers to experiment with generative AI, but they also noted the technology’s potential risks. This includes copyright and indemnification lawsuits arising from existing creative that feeds LLMs, as well as the potential for bad actors to infringe on brand safety by impersonating them or spreading misinformation.

IBM Consulting can help marketers navigate these minefields, Seabrook added, such as implementing best practices in building transparency into the generative AI models brands use. As with any emerging technology, of course, he also noted mistakes – and the lessons learned from them – are bound to happen.

While the right technology partner can assist with generative AI, marketers need to have an industry-wide conversation about the technology’s implications. More immediately, what can brands do to make sure the results of generative AI content creation aren’t homogenous or boring? This could define the future of brand-agency relationships.

“How do you start to price original creative work, or the production of work that can be generated on the fly (through generative AI)?” he said. “What will the new value exchange between a brand and a creative agency be when the notion of “time and materials” is completely disrupted? And how will the acceleration of the content supply chain transform the skills and expectations of creative and marketing professionals in the future? I’m very curious to see how this unfolds.”