There are two types of people making stuff: content creators and artists .

Both are creative. But there is one distinct difference: Content creators are willing to trade control for speed. Artists are not.

Content creators are willing to trade control for speed. Creators are trying to get a good-enough cut, a performant-enough ad, or an engaging-enough YouTube or TikTok post. Creators know that modern brands must think and act in real-time. They know they need to move fast and they understand that most timeline and algorithmically programmed content is ephemeral. Whether it is the pizza shop needing a promotional video or the influencer making an opening sequence for their gaming show on YouTube or creating social and meme-driven content for our own social feeds, we all play in this new creator economy. The advent of prompt-driven, generative AI tools lowers the floor so that anyone can be a creator of some kind. As a result, the market has exploded. Between 80 and 90 percent of the creative market is now focused on the creator: Canva, Adobe Express, MidJourney, ChatGPT, Nano Banana, Gemini, and every other mainstream generative creation tool caters to creators. But creators are driven by the desire to accomplish something quickly. The content is often a means, not an end.

Artists are NOT willing to trade control for speed . Sure, artists do quick sketches and explorations, but these exercises are in service of exploring the full terrain of possibilities to find the absolute best direction. Artists have a distinct vision in their mind’s eye, and they will use whatever chisels, brushes, cameras, editing workflows, or other tools they need to achieve this vision with as little compromise as necessary. Artists require creative control and giving it up to some prompt-based generative tool is like the sculptor working without her hands. The artist’s creation, and achieving their exact vision, is the goal. Their tools must be in service of this goal. While a much smaller percentage of the creative market, artists make units of culture. Artists craft the meaning-infused stories that thrill and break us. While their work may not be fast or optimized for clicks, their stories teach us about ourselves and advance our understanding of the world.

Content creators and artists have different needs . Most tech headlines about AI have been about the impact on content creators and the insatiable desire and demand for content of all kinds. The majority of venture capital has been invested in tools for the “creator economy” – making ads, making endless amounts of YouTube and TikTok content, making social posts, etc – given its vast, if not infinite size. But lost in the shuffle is what artists need. People conflate what enables creators with what might replace artists. People see the “AI slop” capabilities of new generative models and then declare the “end of fine art” and “RIP Hollywood,” as if the founding of McDonalds would kill our desire for great cuisine . It is increasingly clear that artistry is here to stay. We will all continue to crave great stories and breakthrough art despite the surge of AI slop, much like we crave fine cuisine despite the abundance of fast food. What do artists need? They need ways to explore more surface area of possibility more quickly so they can find the right idea to pursue. They need modern workflows across different tools that offer more precision than ever with fewer obstacles and dependencies. They need new technology to give them more creative control, not less. And artists must feel the appetite to take more creative risk because when they do, our lives become better. There is a new breed of workflows emerging for artists that leverage new technology without compromising control and I’m excited as ever for the implications.

While I’m excited about the creator economy (and suspect this will be a growing job sector, as opposed to many others), I firmly believe that we will all crave more artistry in the age of AI. As content creators fill our feeds and brands flood the zone — all to grab our attention as cheaply and efficiently as possible, consumer preferences will shift towards more crafted and deeply human stories. As creating content becomes easier, the bar for what makes an extraordinary and unforgettable story will rise.

Scott Belsky • AI & Artistry, the Resurgence of Hardware Startups, & Unicorns that are Really Rabbits