AI Isn’t the Threat to Storytellers. Pretending It Isn’t Here Is.
A look at what changes — and what doesn’t — when the tools evolve.
November 18, 2025
November 18, 2025
I was at a dinner party last week and was happy to sit next to a friend I hadn’t seen in years. After catching up on kids and life in general, she asked me a question I’ve been getting a lot lately. She works at a college with students in the arts and wanted to know how I see AI affecting communicators like myself. She said many of her students are angry and mistrustful of AI - convinced that it is taking work away from creators and should be avoided at all costs. This isn’t an uncommon view. I get some version of this question often enough that I thought I’d write down my thoughts.
To me, experience is pattern recognition, and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this one before.
First off, AI isn’t going to replace communicators. We’ve been at this for a while - as in before cave paintings a while. New technology always changes the way people tell stories, but it never replaces storytelling altogether.
When I was starting college, the digitization of graphic design was just starting to hit its stride. I began learning mechanical methods like press type and airbrushing photos. Four years later, it was clear your future as a designer depended less on the X-Acto blade and more on the keyboard. The full transition took a decade or so, but in the end, it was absolute.
The impact of AI on communicators shares a lot with that period, (though it’s moving much faster, and the stakes feel even higher).
The Revolution Repeats
AI is reshaping the creative world faster than any transformation in memory. Every day, it redraws the boundaries of what we call design, communication, and craft. For some, it feels like liberation. For others, disruption. For most of us, it’s both.
As a communicator (or as someone who hires communicators) you may have lived through earlier waves of change: desktop publishing, the internet, digital photography. The feeling is familiar; excitement, unease, and a flood of new creators rushing in.
History reminds us that creative revolutions don’t erase artistry - they redistribute it. The tools change. The talent shifts. The opportunity moves.
The question is whether we move with it.
A Short Look Back
Every major leap in creative technology has followed the same emotional pattern: shock, resistance, curiosity, acceptance, reinvention.
When design first went digital, many feared the end of craft. Instead, it sparked a new kind of creativity - one that rewarded speed, adaptability, and imagination as much as precision.
AI is simply the latest chapter in that same story. The difference is speed. Where the desktop publishing revolution unfolded over years, AI brings real change every few months.
While the pace is breathtaking, the underlying truth remains that those who learn to embrace the tools and think differently about how they work will survive. The cold truth is, I’m not sure there is a choice if you want to remain relevant in the market.
The Panic and the Promise
Every creative revolution unsettles before it empowers.
Yes, entire roles disappeared when technology reshaped design, especially typesetters, paste-up artists, photo retouchers. The communicators who remained didn’t vanish; they evolved. They learned to juggle design, writing, and consulting, often doing the work of several former specialists. I have plenty of friends who continue to have long careers after migrating their skills.
While hard numbers are difficult to find, it felt like there were ultimately more writers, designers, and communicators after desktop publishing became mainstream - not fewer. The difference was that those who stayed had wider guardrails than before.
AI will be no different. It will automate tasks and flood the market with more content than ever before. It will also amplify voices, surface ideas faster, and open doors to collaboration that didn’t exist before.
The professionals who thrive won’t just master the tools - they’ll master the discernment behind them. They’ll know when AI adds value, when it distracts, and how to shape work that still feels unmistakably human.
Their job isn’t to chase every new capability; it’s to use the right ones to tell stories that matter.
The Creative Crossroads
Designers, writers, and communicators now stand in that familiar space between fear and potential - where the ground shifts and the rules haven’t been written yet.
Yes, automation will handle the repetitive parts of our jobs. That also means the most human parts, namely story, intuition, taste, and discernment are about to become more valuable than ever. We’re not losing creativity, we’re redistributing it again.
A Few Truths About Surviving in the Age of AI
If you want to survive as a communicator, you need to accept a few things about AI - and whatever technology comes next.
- Be cautious but optimistic. Not everything spells doom and gloom.
- Don’t use AI for everything. I think the energy and resource consumption of AI will have a much bigger impact on the world’s workforce than the perceived takeover of creative efforts. Figure out where to use it to enhance your process, not to upend it. Each creator has to figure that out for themselves.
- It’s your career - make your own decisions. Figure out what to adopt and what to ignore.
- Be relentless. If your goal is to communicate ideas, tell stories, or change hearts and minds, then use any and all tools to do that. When you stay focused on your purpose, you realize there are countless ways to get there.
- Become the trusted advisor. If you’re an artist for art’s sake, you work for yourself. But if you’re like most of us, you tell stories to serve clients and their audiences. Asking better questions - for and of them - makes you invaluable for years to come.
- Adapt to survive. There were more communicators, not fewer, after the digitization of design, but entire roles disappeared along the way. The survivors adapted, learned new skills, and lived to create another day.
AI will replace some tasks, but it won’t replace you unless you let it.
Next time, I’d like to explore what this means for organizations - how they’ll work with communicators to tell their stories. In the meantime, let’s talk about how we, as communicators, can adapt with purpose - to make the tools serve the story, not the other way around. Let’s discuss. These times can be uncertain - but we can figure them out together.