Please Don't Put Away The Paintbrush

Can canvases and paintbrushes become obsolete in the age of AI? Let’s hope not.

Yes, you can tell AI to create a radio commercial for Joe's Plumbing. Just like you can tell AI to create a painting of your wife inspired by the Mona Lisa. But which one do you think will mean more? Which one will truly connect? Which one will your client and their customers appreciate?

The answer lies not in the efficiency of the output, but in the humanity of the input.

AI isn't the villain in this story. Nuclear energy can power cities or level them. The internet can connect hearts or spread hatred. AI can amplify human creativity or replace it entirely. The difference lies not in the technology itself, but in how we choose to wield it.

Radio has always been about more than delivering information. It's about creating moments. It's about that perfect voice actor who can make you laugh, cry, or reach for your wallet with nothing but tone and timing. It's about the copywriter who finds the one word that transforms a mundane product into someone's solution. It's about the producer who knows exactly when to let silence speak louder than sound.

This is human creativity at work. This is artistry. This is what AI can assist but never truly replicate.

When we create a commercial that makes a local business owner's eyes light up because we got their vision, when we craft copy that makes listeners stop and listen, when we produce audio that moves people to action we're not just fulfilling a contract. We're exercising something fundamental to what makes us human.

Smart radio pros aren't running from AI, they're learning to dance with it. Use AI to handle the mundane tasks that drain your creative energy. Let it help with research, generate initial concepts, or handle scheduling. But when it comes to the creative heart of what we do the strategy, the emotion, the human connection, that's where your paintbrush comes in.

Your client doesn't just want a commercial. They want to be understood. They want their passion for their business to translate into their customers' enthusiasm. They want to feel heard, valued, and represented in a way that honors their investment in your expertise.

Can AI do that? Maybe it can simulate it. But can it truly feel it, live it, breathe it the way you can? Can it bring decades of human experience, local market knowledge, and genuine empathy to the creative process?

Every one of us was born with a creative spirit. It's not just what we do for a living, it's part of what makes us alive. When we stop creating, when we hand over our creative decisions to algorithms, we don't just risk our livelihoods. We risk something far more precious: our humanity.

The radio industry has weathered countless storms. Television, satellite radio, streaming, podcasts, social media. We've survived not by abandoning what makes us unique, but by doubling down on it. Our creativity, our connection to local communities, our ability to paint pictures with sound, these aren't just our competitive advantages. They're our artistic legacy.

So here we stand at another crossroads. We can choose to see AI as the end of human creativity in radio, or as a tool that frees us to be more creative than ever. We can choose to compete with machines on efficiency, or to lead with what machines can't replicate: genuine human connection and creativity.

The choice is ours. The future is ours to create.

But please, as we navigate this new landscape, as we explore what AI can do for our industry don't put away the paintbrush. Don't sacrifice the very thing that makes radio an art form.

Because at the end of the day, your clients don't just want a commercial. They want a masterpiece that only human hands, hearts, and minds can create.

Keep creating. Keep connecting. Keep being beautifully, irreplaceably human. Keep the paintbrush.