AI isn’t killing creativity. We are.

There’s something that has been bothering me more and more every time I look at advertising.

I open Instagram. I see a brand.

I walk into a coffee shop. I see another.

I drive past a storefront. Another one.

And I start noticing something strange. They all look the same.

The same neutral colors
The same minimalism
The same fonts
The same perfectly polished photography
The same banners
The same simplified logos
The same layouts

Everything is clean. Everything is beautiful. Everything is “on trend.”

And somehow, everything is becoming forgettable.

So I started asking myself:

When did we start confusing “beautiful” with “creative”?

AI isn’t the problem

Let me make something clear first: I’m not against AI.

Actually, I think AI is one of the most powerful tools we’ve ever had. It can completely change the way we work, create, research, and communicate.

But a tool is still a tool.

The problem starts when we stop using AI to enhance our ideas and start using it to replace them.

And this isn’t some distant possibility anymore.

AI adoption in marketing is growing incredibly fast. The American Marketing Association found that nearly 90% of surveyed marketers had already used generative AI in their work, with 71% saying they use it weekly or more often.

Gartner has also found that among organizations already using generative AI, creative development is one of its major applications.

So the question is no longer whether we are going to use AI. Of course we are.

The real question is:

What are we going to do with our creativity when everyone has access to the same tool?

When everyone has the same tool, everything starts looking the same

AI is incredibly good at recognizing patterns.

It can analyze massive amounts of information, identify relationships, understand styles, and generate something based on what it has learned.

That’s incredibly useful.

But there’s a strange paradox happening. We now have some of the most advanced creative tools in history. And yet, we may be using them to create more of the same.

The same aesthetics
The same visual trends
The same “clean” branding
The same social media content
The same advertising language
The same everything

Not necessarily because AI is bad at creativity. But because we keep asking it to give us what already exists.

We give it references. We give it trends. We give it examples. We give it instructions to make something “modern,” “minimal,” “professional,” or “aesthetic.”

And then we’re surprised when the result looks like everything else.

Maybe the problem isn’t the technology. Maybe the problem is that we stopped pushing ourselves.

What happened to logos?

Let’s talk about logos.

For years, brands had distinctive symbols, unexpected typography, strange color combinations, little imperfections, and visual decisions that maybe didn’t make perfect sense at first.

But they had personality.

Otter Marine, built at Pento. A mark that could not belong to anyone else

Now, so many brands seem to go through the same process:

“Make it cleaner.”
“Make it simpler.”
“Make it more modern.”
“Remove that detail.”
“Use a more minimal font.”

And little by little, the personality disappears.

The same thing is happening with banners, flyers, ads, websites, social media posts, and even storefronts.

I’m not saying minimalism is bad. Minimalism can be beautiful. Minimalism can be incredibly smart.

But when minimalism becomes a formula instead of a creative decision, it stops making us different.

If every brand uses the same formula to look modern, then modern stops being a differentiator.

And people are starting to notice

This is the part I find especially interesting.

Consumers aren’t stupid. They can feel when something is generic. They can feel when something was made just because “that’s what everyone is doing.”

According to Ipsos, two-thirds of Americans prefer marketing and artistic content created by humans rather than AI.

And Gartner reported in 2026 that 50% of U.S. consumers would prefer to buy from brands that don’t use generative AI in consumer-facing content. Even more interestingly, 68% said they frequently wonder whether the content they see is actually authentic.

That says a lot. While brands are rushing toward automation, consumers may actually be looking for something that feels more human.

2 in 3prefer marketing and art made by humansIpsos

50%would rather buy from brands that avoid GenAI in what they publishGartner

68%frequently wonder whether what they see is authenticGartner

Something real
Something imperfect
Something with a story behind it

Maybe originality will become a luxury

And this is where I think advertising is going to get really interesting.

For a long time, having access to professional creative tools was a competitive advantage. Now, those tools are becoming available to almost everyone.

You can generate an image
You can generate a video
You can write an ad
You can create a concept
You can make ten variations of the same campaign in minutes

So what is actually going to separate one designer from another?

Maybe it won’t be their ability to use the tool. Maybe it will be their ability to think.

To observe
To question
To connect ideas that seemingly have nothing to do with each other
To find inspiration outside of Pinterest
To go outside
To look at architecture
To read
To make mistakes
To experiment
To create something that doesn’t exist yet

That’s creativity.

I still want to pick my own outfit

This might sound random, but it actually matters to me.

I don’t want AI making every decision for me.

What color I should wear
What outfit I should choose
What design I should make
What photograph I should take
What idea I should develop

Because even the small decisions are part of our creativity.

SiNutre chocolate packaging designed at Pento, with illustrated cacao branches and hand-picked colour — SiNutre, built at Pento. Every colour on it was a decision someone made

Choosing an outfit is an aesthetic decision. Choosing a color is a decision. Deciding what to photograph and from what angle is a creative decision. Designing a logo is a decision. Creating a campaign is a decision.

And I want to keep making those decisions myself. I want to keep training my brain to create.

Because honestly, I’m more afraid of something deeper than AI taking creative jobs.

I’m afraid we’ll lose our creative muscle. That we’ll become so used to asking a machine for answers that we stop asking ourselves questions.

I don’t want to go backward. I want to take humanity forward

So my message isn’t “stop using AI.” Absolutely not.

Use it
Experiment with it
Learn it
Take advantage of it
Automate repetitive tasks

Use it to research, explore possibilities, brainstorm, analyze information, or speed up your workflow.

But don’t give it your creativity.

AI can be an amazing assistant. But it shouldn’t become the creative director of your life.

There is a huge difference between creating with AI and letting AI create for you.

And I think that difference is going to matter more and more.

Do we want our brand to look like AI?

This is the question I want to leave designers, marketers, photographers, creatives, and business owners with:

Do we want our company to look like everyone else?
Do we want a logo that could belong to any company?
Do we want a banner that could have been designed for any restaurant?
Do we want a campaign that looks exactly like the ten other campaigns we saw this morning?

Or do we want to create something we actually love?

Something with personality
Something that might be a little weird
Something that doesn’t perfectly follow the trend

Something people see and think: “Wait. That’s different.”

Because maybe in ten years, we won’t have a shortage of tools to create. Maybe we’ll have a shortage of people willing to create without following a formula.

AI is the tool, not the destination

I think we’re entering a fascinating time. For the first time, we have tools capable of multiplying our ability to produce.

But producing more doesn’t necessarily mean creating better. And that’s the challenge.

I don’t want faster advertising. I want more interesting advertising.

I don’t want more content. I want better ideas.

I don’t want every brand to have access to the same aesthetic. I want people to have the courage to develop their own.

So yes: use AI. But also use your hands.

Use your eyes
Use your memory
Use your taste
Use your curiosity
Use your mistakes
Use your imagination

Make things that aren’t perfectly optimized
Experiment
Draw again
Take the photograph
Design something weird

Grab a piece of cardboard and start from scratch if you have to.

A DidoPet anniversary poster designed at Pento, dense with colour, pattern and illustration — DidoPet, built at Pento. Nobody would mistake this for anything else

Because technology can help us create faster. But we are still the ones who decide what is worth creating. And maybe that is our biggest advantage.

In a world where almost anything can be generated, being original might become the most valuable thing of all.

So no, AI isn’t killing creativity. We are, every time we stop thinking for ourselves.