5 answers
Ava
Student
Raleigh, North Carolina
1
Question
Asked
1030 views
How do you work with ai vs competing with ai for your job? #Fall25
I am a high school senior wanting to major in digital art for game design but am worried about the future of art majors with ai.
5 answers
Amy Elias
Creative Services Manager
3
Answers
Portland, Oregon
Updated
Amy’s Answer
Hi Ava! I see some great advice here already about the ethics of AI and treating it as a tool.
As a Creative Services Manager at a large tech company, I want to give you the "Hiring Reality." We aren't looking to replace humans with robots; we are looking for humans who know how to lead the robots.
In my team, we don't view it as "Man vs. Machine." We view it as "Man + Machine." Here are the three main ways we use AI to make our jobs better, not harder:
AI Kills the "Drudgery," Not the Art: We use AI to handle the boring, repetitive tasks - like resizing images, tagging files, or generating 50 variations of a background texture. This doesn't steal our jobs; it frees up our time so we can focus on the high-level strategy and emotional storytelling that a computer simply can’t do.
Be the Pilot, Not the Passenger: AI is like a very fast, very eager intern. It can make a lot of things quickly, but it has no taste and no judgment. That is where you come in. Companies need humans who have "The Eye" - the ability to look at AI output, curate the best parts, and fix the mistakes. Your job isn't disappearing; it's shifting from just "creating" to "directing."
The Ultimate Brainstorming Buddy: The hardest part of any project is the blank page. We use AI to generate wild, weird ideas just to get the creative juices flowing. We rarely use the raw AI output in the final work, but it helps us get to the unique human solution much faster.
Actionable Tip: Don't run from these tools - play with them! Try using an AI tool to generate a concept for a game character, and then use your own artistic skills to "fix" it, paint over it, and make it human. That workflow - AI Start + Human Finish - is a superpower in the modern workforce.
As a Creative Services Manager at a large tech company, I want to give you the "Hiring Reality." We aren't looking to replace humans with robots; we are looking for humans who know how to lead the robots.
In my team, we don't view it as "Man vs. Machine." We view it as "Man + Machine." Here are the three main ways we use AI to make our jobs better, not harder:
AI Kills the "Drudgery," Not the Art: We use AI to handle the boring, repetitive tasks - like resizing images, tagging files, or generating 50 variations of a background texture. This doesn't steal our jobs; it frees up our time so we can focus on the high-level strategy and emotional storytelling that a computer simply can’t do.
Be the Pilot, Not the Passenger: AI is like a very fast, very eager intern. It can make a lot of things quickly, but it has no taste and no judgment. That is where you come in. Companies need humans who have "The Eye" - the ability to look at AI output, curate the best parts, and fix the mistakes. Your job isn't disappearing; it's shifting from just "creating" to "directing."
The Ultimate Brainstorming Buddy: The hardest part of any project is the blank page. We use AI to generate wild, weird ideas just to get the creative juices flowing. We rarely use the raw AI output in the final work, but it helps us get to the unique human solution much faster.
Actionable Tip: Don't run from these tools - play with them! Try using an AI tool to generate a concept for a game character, and then use your own artistic skills to "fix" it, paint over it, and make it human. That workflow - AI Start + Human Finish - is a superpower in the modern workforce.
Kari Lundy
17
Answers
Des Moines, Iowa
Updated
Kari’s Answer
This is a very good question.
I'm not in game design, but as a freelance artist I can understand these concerns.
The thing is that you need to realize that there is a right way and wrong way to use AI. It's meant to be a tool.
Not what you use to do your work for you.
If you want to use it to pitch unique ideas... like you are trying to title an art piece but you're not sure what a good name for it would be and you use AI to figure out a good name... that's a good use for AI.
As long as you don't use AI to create your entire work, or even half of your work, then you'll be okay.
AI was meant for good... but sadly too many are abusing it because of the lack of laws to govern it. It's been used to fake art, to create art that then the person who asked for its creation tries to pass it off as theirs and so on. This is the sad reality of AI. That anyone who can abuse it, already has and it's very difficult to compete with it, which is why many artists are fighting back with Anti-AI programs to put prints on their work so that AI can't just copy their artwork and use it as a correct reference for their own use.
I suggest you do the same if you post anything digitally, even if it's just a photo of art you've done, I recommend using a program like Glaze to protect your artwork against the bad AI.
While AI CAN and was meant to be a tool... the reality is, it's not what it was meant to be anymore thanks to all the undesirables getting ahold of it. So, while you can use it as a tool, be very careful about what you give it.
I'm not in game design, but as a freelance artist I can understand these concerns.
The thing is that you need to realize that there is a right way and wrong way to use AI. It's meant to be a tool.
Not what you use to do your work for you.
If you want to use it to pitch unique ideas... like you are trying to title an art piece but you're not sure what a good name for it would be and you use AI to figure out a good name... that's a good use for AI.
As long as you don't use AI to create your entire work, or even half of your work, then you'll be okay.
AI was meant for good... but sadly too many are abusing it because of the lack of laws to govern it. It's been used to fake art, to create art that then the person who asked for its creation tries to pass it off as theirs and so on. This is the sad reality of AI. That anyone who can abuse it, already has and it's very difficult to compete with it, which is why many artists are fighting back with Anti-AI programs to put prints on their work so that AI can't just copy their artwork and use it as a correct reference for their own use.
I suggest you do the same if you post anything digitally, even if it's just a photo of art you've done, I recommend using a program like Glaze to protect your artwork against the bad AI.
While AI CAN and was meant to be a tool... the reality is, it's not what it was meant to be anymore thanks to all the undesirables getting ahold of it. So, while you can use it as a tool, be very careful about what you give it.
Thank you very much for your insight as an artist. And thank you for your suggestions about protecting my art.
Ava
Sen Yang
Design
3
Answers
Irving, Texas
Updated
Sen’s Answer
Your concern is very valid and important. For art and design majors, the goal is not to compete with AI in creating images, but to use AI tools in a way that showcases human creativity.
Here's how you can approach this:
1. Collaborating with AI: The Future Path
To work effectively with AI, think of yourself as a strategist and director. Let AI handle the routine tasks, so you can focus on more creative and strategic work.
Learn AI Tools: Your team is already on this path with the AI x Design Readiness Survey and Figma AI Enterprise tools. Knowing how to use these tools lets you shape the output and control AI-driven processes.
Create Hybrid Experiences: Future design roles will blend traditional and conversational interfaces. You'll need to work with visual components and advance AI technologies. This opens up opportunities for designers who can handle complex experiences.
Highlight Human Skills: AI can't replicate:
Emotional Intelligence & Empathy: Grasping human needs, culture, and ethics.
Creative Direction: Setting the vision and purpose of a project.
Curation & Refinement: Using your expertise to select and enhance AI-generated work.
2. Competing with AI: Upholding Creative Integrity
The challenge with AI is more about legal and economic issues than a lack of talent.
Intellectual Property: AI is often trained on copyrighted work without fair compensation to creators, which can overshadow original human work.
Advocacy: Artists and creative groups are fighting for fair policies that protect intellectual property rights over big tech interests.
Success for art majors now means understanding AI tools, having strong creative and strategic skills, and staying informed about ethical and legal issues to protect your work.
Here's how you can approach this:
1. Collaborating with AI: The Future Path
To work effectively with AI, think of yourself as a strategist and director. Let AI handle the routine tasks, so you can focus on more creative and strategic work.
Learn AI Tools: Your team is already on this path with the AI x Design Readiness Survey and Figma AI Enterprise tools. Knowing how to use these tools lets you shape the output and control AI-driven processes.
Create Hybrid Experiences: Future design roles will blend traditional and conversational interfaces. You'll need to work with visual components and advance AI technologies. This opens up opportunities for designers who can handle complex experiences.
Highlight Human Skills: AI can't replicate:
Emotional Intelligence & Empathy: Grasping human needs, culture, and ethics.
Creative Direction: Setting the vision and purpose of a project.
Curation & Refinement: Using your expertise to select and enhance AI-generated work.
2. Competing with AI: Upholding Creative Integrity
The challenge with AI is more about legal and economic issues than a lack of talent.
Intellectual Property: AI is often trained on copyrighted work without fair compensation to creators, which can overshadow original human work.
Advocacy: Artists and creative groups are fighting for fair policies that protect intellectual property rights over big tech interests.
Success for art majors now means understanding AI tools, having strong creative and strategic skills, and staying informed about ethical and legal issues to protect your work.
Wong Loke Yuen
Head of Programme cum Senior Lecturer
645
Answers
Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Updated
Wong’s Answer
Hi Ava. You can think of AI as a helper, not a replacement. It can make rough drafts, suggest ideas, or show different styles. This gives you more time to focus on the creative choices that only humans can make, like the story behind a character, or the emotions in a scene. By using AI this way, you can work faster and experiment more, while keeping your work original and personal.
It's also important to build skills that AI can't copy. These include conceptual thinking, visual storytelling, and understanding player experience in games. Focusing on these skills will make you valuable in the future, no matter how good AI becomes.
Learning how to use AI responsibly will also help. Employers in the future are likely to value artists who can integrate AI into their workflow, while still bringing originality, style, and human emotion to their work. All the best to you.
It's also important to build skills that AI can't copy. These include conceptual thinking, visual storytelling, and understanding player experience in games. Focusing on these skills will make you valuable in the future, no matter how good AI becomes.
Learning how to use AI responsibly will also help. Employers in the future are likely to value artists who can integrate AI into their workflow, while still bringing originality, style, and human emotion to their work. All the best to you.
Thank you so much for your advice! It will help me as I think about my future.
Ava
You are welcome
Wong Loke Yuen
Sandeep Khandelwal
Software Engineer
50
Answers
San Ramon, California
Updated
Sandeep’s Answer
That is a truly vital question, and it shows you are thinking like a future professional. This is exactly the kind of critical thinking that will make you a successful artist.
My answer to your question is simple: You don't compete with AI; you learn to collaborate with it. AI will become an essential tool, just like Photoshop became essential for traditional painters.
My answer to your question is simple: You don't compete with AI; you learn to collaborate with it. AI will become an essential tool, just like Photoshop became essential for traditional painters.
Thank you very much for your insight!
Ava
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