AI killed Don Draper
I've been dipping into random Mad Men episodes lately. It's one of my top five TV shows of all time, and shaped my early career.
Inspired by the initial run of Mad Men, I moved to New York City and landed an entry-level copywriting role at a small ad agency. On the whole the experience was great, and very similar to the show (despite being separated by decades).
One way that Mad Men mirrored my experience: a never-ending appetite for "ideas." We were constantly being asked to come up with new ideas, better ideas, fun ideas, unique ideas. The framing may have been different, but the gist of the assignment was the same: quantity.
We'd spend a few days brainstorming and bullshitting and taking walks and scrolling the internet, and at the end of the week we'd present a list of creative ideas to our clients. Most of the ideas were shut down, but some made it through the meat grinder and out the other side.
And then the process would start all over again.
It was stressful at times, and frustrating when an idea you loved was shot down by a client that just didn't get it. But when your idea hit, the feeling was indescribably wonderful.
Throughout this process, my ability to come up with ideas improved. I became much better at weeding out the obvious or stupid ideas before presenting them to the client. This muscle is one I still have, and one I use almost every day.
You can see the same process play out throughout Mad Men's seven seasons. Commonly you'll hear Don or Peggy (or the insufferable Lou) ask for a list of "tags," taglines to anchor the campaign to. This assignment is also quantity based, with the hope that one or two taglines out of dozens might contain a truly great idea.
Watching Mad Men again recently, I realized how AI has already destroyed this discipline. It's over.
"Coming up with ideas" is painful and time-consuming, and it can now be replaced by a few AI prompts. You can generate literally thousands of ideas with a single sentence. But here's the thing: most of the resulting ideas are garbage.
AI is extremely bad at coming up with nuanced ideas that aren't obvious and clichéd, since they are pulling suggestions from an endless stream of tired marketing SEO content. This really matters in marketing, since the entire point is to stand out in a crowded market.
When I scan a list of 100 AI-generated ideas (yes, I'm guilty too), I know how many of them are bad because of my ad agency experience. I'm surprised how often AI is unable to "beat" an idea I'm already playing around with.
What happens when no one is given the opportunity to develop this muscle? To learn the nuance between good ideas, bad ideas, and ideas in-between? To experience the pain—and joy—of wrestling with your own mind?
We're about to find out.