When you think about AI, terrifying thoughts of robot takeovers and job losses likely come to mind. Amazon’s recent layoff of 14,000 employees is just one example of how AI is reshaping industries. As a writer, I’ve wrestled with the same fears: Can AI write better than I can? Maybe. Can it come up with clever ideas? Sometimes. But can it be creative, personal, and relatable without humans like me? Not really.
Attending Upscale Conference, an AI conference hosted by Freepik in Málaga, Spain, was an eye-opening experience. The event showcased AI’s capabilities while also emphasizing the irreplaceable role of human creativity in shaping its future.
From AI Pessimist to Pragmatic Optimist
I arrived at Upscale in a skeptical frame of mind. Would the show include a parade of speakers praising AI’s superiority? Would I be pressured to embrace a tool I’ve deliberately avoided in my own work, or to convince readers to do so? To my surprise, the opposite happened. The very fact that I, a human writer, was invited should have been my first clue.
Speaker after speaker reinforced a central message: AI is indeed here to stay, but it cannot thrive without human vision. Among them was Freepik CEO Joaquín Cuenca. Freepik started as a stock imagery company but as the industry shifted, the company moved in lockstep into the world of AI image and video generation. While we all know that AI can execute ideas faster than any human individual, even team, can, it still needs someone to steer the ship. Otherwise, AI doesn’t know where to go. Creativity, taste, and intuition remain uniquely human. AI doesn’t survive nor thrive without human creativity.
The onslaught of AI is similar to revolutions we have already experienced over the last several decades, with everything from the photograph versus the painting, the internet versus the library, computer versus pen and paper, social media versus texting, the music sampler versus live instruments, the list goes on. In each instance, the new innovation threatened the existence of the old.
AI is a Creative Partner, Not a Replacement
Throughout the conference, presenters shared examples of projects, emphasizing not only how AI assisted in making them better, but also how human input was essential. Marten Kuipers, Associate Design Director at digital agency DEPT, explained, “AI does not have taste, but you do.” In a campaign DEPT worked on for Jonsson Workwear, for example, AI-generated images helped a photographer visualize the mood and composition of final shots. César Pesquera and Iván Garrig of creative production studio Caapsai showcased a short film during their presentation. It featured an AI-generated woman who, they later reveal, was based on a real actress, whose motion capture and likeness shaped the final product.
These examples highlight a truth: AI can assist, but it cannot originate. It’s not a push-button solution, it’s a tool that amplifies human creativity.
The Power and Pitfalls of Prompts
That tool is often summoned through that buzzword we all know, and that dominated Upscale: “prompts.” Simple prompts generate e-mails, images, and videos. Think using a prompt to create an e-mail invitation for a holiday party and a fun photo of a dog wearing a party hat in the snow to accompany it. But detailed, thoughtful prompts that are crafted with precision and linked together using comprehensive platforms and software can produce viral campaigns, music videos, even entire movie trailers.
Meron Yao of Minimax played the trailer for Untold – The Immortal Blades Saga by Kavan the Kid, a hyper-realistic AI-generated trailer that could easily be mistaken for a studio production. It’s one of the most convincing pieces of AI work I have seen of its kind. But it’s also just a concept. Untold is not a real movie. There are no actors, no animators, no budget, no actual story. It’s just imagination and AI.
This raises a critical question: If AI can replicate content so convincingly, what happens to the jobs behind it? The answer, echoed by every speaker, is that creativity is not lost. Writers, directors, and visionaries are still essential to the process. AI can bring stories to life, but it can’t create them without us. Admittedly, it’s frightening to see, in this case, what AI can do compared to visual effects and CGI. But the emotion, the execution, the vision is lacking without actual people working behind the scenes, and arguably even in front of the camera for a final product.
Maintaining balance comes down to using AI smartly, in the way it was intended to be used and not as a replacement for actual talent.
Avoiding Complacency in the Age of AI
One of the most pressing concerns about AI is that when used wrongly, it can drive complacency. AI expert Tey Bannerman cited an Adobe study in his main stage talk that reported 83% of creatives used AI tools in their work in 2024, mainly to generate new ideas. But that number rose to 99% in 2025, the top reason being to increase quantity. It’s tempting to equate AI with speed and cost savings. But good work, AI-assisted or not, still requires time, talent, and vision.
Relying too much on AI, Bannerman notes, can erode motivation and critical thinking, something study after study has supported with findings. One of the most recent hails from MIT, which found that use of ChatGPT led to lower brain engagement among participants versus those who used Google or no tools at all to write several SAT essays. Further, they became lazier and lazier with their work over a course of several months. “Every time you maintain your capability,” said Bannerman, “you’re preserving what might save you from eroding your own critical thinking.”
The most important consideration to make is that AI is not a tool for getting something done faster, cheaper, and better. You can’t achieve all three. Rather, AI is a resource the humans you entrust to work on projects for you can leverage to deliver a better end result. “I think when you choose depth over breadth,” says Bannerman, “that’s a deliberate choice you’re making to care.”
Drawing from this sentiment, Cuenca envisions a future where the creative engineer is the dominant force, a hybrid between a creative left-brainer and a technology-oriented right-brainer. The good news is that using AI doesn’t require an engineering degree. All you need is curiosity, vision, and a willingness to learn and adapt.
One of the most inspiring examples of this is from Isabel Martínez, who goes by the screen name Isabelita Virtual. She’s an Instagram sensation who transitioned from working as an advertising copywriter to an AI-powered artist. Starting to take photos when she received her first iPhone, she began posting to Instagram and quickly went viral. The next thing she knew, she was working with brands like Vogue Italia, Prada, Dior, Hermes, Tiffany’s, and even Apple. (Some of her work demonstrates Portrait Mode). When AI arrived on scene, Martínez pivoted and immersed herself in the world of GenAI to learn, working with Meta.
Despite now delivering content deeply entrenched in GenAI, her work remains deeply personal, reflecting her unique aesthetic and point of view. “I’m doing more or less the same thing,” she said, “but in a better way because I have better tools to do it.” Her story is proof that AI doesn’t erase creativity, it enhances it.
To foster collaboration among such thinkers within an organization or among teams, Freepik introduced Freepik Spaces at Upscale, a shared workspace where teams can co-create images, videos, and voiceovers. It’s designed to move beyond the “slot machine” model of prompt refinement and toward intentional creation.
Embracing the Renaissance
Though I’m not a complete AI convert, Upscale made me rethink my stance on AI. I’ve always leaned toward AI pessimism, but now I see a middle ground. I use AI tools more than I would like to admit. I recorded every talk from Upscale in the Recorder app on a OnePlus 15 smartphone and used the transcription feature to turn the audio into text from which I could pull quotes. I often clean up images on my iPhone 17 Pro using Apple Intelligence AI features like Clean Up. I use CapCut to auto-cut videos for Instagram, and lean on Gemini for queries about everything from cooking times to vacation spots and my son’s math homework. In no way are any of these uses replacing my work, they’re all supporting it.
Kuipers summed it up with a profane but poignant slide: “f**k AI.” This is often what he hears from others, including from an onslaught of criticism online by people chastising him for calling himself a designer when he creates using AI. But creativity isn’t about the tools, he says, it’s about the ideas. Just as owning a camera doesn’t automatically make you a photographer, using AI doesn’t instantly make you a creator. It’s how you use it that matters.
PJ Accetturo, CEO of Genre.ai, who has created many viral AI ads, including this one for Kalshi, put it best: “You’re always going to need a human orchestrator…Writing and directing will always be relevant, even if part of the process is automated.”
The Road Ahead
AI-generated movies may never fully replace traditional filmmaking, in the same way AI-generated articles won’t replace human written ones and AI robots won’t completely replace humans. Instead, they’ll coexist. Like samplers in music, the internet versus libraries, cameras versus painting, social media versus the telephone, AI marks a new chapter, not the end.
Justin Hackney of Wonder Studios captured the spirit of Upscale: “We’re not here to replace Hollywood. We want to connect.” AI expert and Upscale’s MC Linus Ekenstam opened with a quote from Neil Donald Walsh: “Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”
For many of us, that comfort zone ends here. But with humans at the wheel, AI doesn’t have to be as feared as it is. Do I still worry about AI? Yes. But I feel like the bottom will drop at some point and AI will stop being used as a replacement and more as a tool, as it already is being used by the top AI companies presenting at Upscale. With a greater understanding of how I already use AI to assist my job, and confidence in the value I offer that it can never replace, AI can maybe, just maybe, be a positive thing.
“If you don’t want to be replaced by AI,” says Kuipers,” please stay unique. AI needs you more than you need AI.”