I’ve got London on the brain.
The Gerety Awards are returning to the UK, partnering with VCCP for a critical evening centered on the panel: “How Creative Leaders Can Unslop AI.”
Truth is, I was a few weeks off and a bit further from the location than realistic (I’m headed to Paris and Riems). Bummer. I still threw myself on the waitlist just to see if there might be a transcript or replay video of the discussion.
The core question—How Creative Leaders Can Unslop AI—gets right to the heart of what we do at Arcworks. We, as professional strategists, designers, and storytellers, understand the necessity of ethics, quality, and craft when it comes to adopting AI. We see it as a powerful tool to refine a process, not a substitute for the core idea itself. We can stick to our guns on that. I spend a ton of time talking about this with colleagues and clients.
So they’re going to discuss the massive amount of creative “slop” being pumped out by people I can only refer to as “bad actors”? (I hope so)
The industry is full of firms and individuals who, because of a sheer lack of respect for their clients’ budgets and their audience’s intelligence, use Generative AI to mass-produce slop. I’m talking about low-effort, low-value creative that clogs the internet and erodes client trust in what a creative agency—like Arcworks Studio—is actually capable of.
This isn’t about AI being a bad tool; it’s about the people using it without caring about the quality of output, and what that means in the macro and how it damages brands. It’s a crisis of respect.
I Hope The London Panel Addresses the ‘Why’
I’m particularly keen on what this distinguished panel will bring to the table. With Nicola Kemp of Creativebrief moderating, and featuring industry heavyweights like Ciara O’Meara (VCCP), Valentina Culatti (Snap Inc.), Prudence Beecroft (Not Just Any), and Mark Eaves (Gravity Road), there will undoubtedly be some outstanding insights.
But…
Many of these discussions fail to to provide a clear playbook for confronting/addressing those “bad actors” (can we even?) and for setting a new, higher benchmark for quality. Is it neccessary to directly address and shame the slop factories, or is really intentional, good work going to just rise to the top and create a reset?
Things I’d Bring Up If I Were There <wipes FOMO tear from eye>
The Ethics of Scale: A true creative leader uses AI to make their one-of-a-kind work better, not to make a thousand mediocre versions of it. The panel must challenge the industry’s obsession with volume over vision.
The Client Education Gap: It’s our job—the consultants and strategists—to educate clients. We need to define the line between a dynamic, well-strategized piece of content and a piece of AI-generated junk that only exists to fill a quota.
The Creative’s Mandate: Our work is based on strategy, storytelling, and design. Slop is what happens when you skip the human insight and go straight to the rendering.
If this group of creative leaders in London can deliver a plan that helps unslop the industry, it’ll be a discussion that will change the creative landscape for the better.
I’m looking forward to getting the details after the conversation happens. Until then, we’ll keep building Arcworks on the principle that the human mind, fueled by great strategy, is the only true source of fresh and enduring design.