A Tool for Expanding Human Potential
Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how we work, conduct research, and create. It offers remarkable opportunities to accomplish more in less time, but it also raises important questions. How can we take advantage of AI's capabilities while preserving the creativity, critical thinking, and intellectual curiosity that contribute to our well-being and personal growth?
At last Friday's Rotary Club of Woodstock meeting, we welcomed Rob McClurg, founder and president of TurnKey Digital, a Woodstock-based digital services company. His presentation offered a timely look at how AI is being used in business and how its capabilities are evolving.
“At TurnKey Digital, we use AI tools and platforms on a daily basis to streamline repetitive processes and provide us cost-effective research,” Rob explained. “It serves as a powerful accelerator for baseline tasks, allowing our team to focus on high-level strategy and creative direction.”
AI is also changing how businesses reach potential customers. Rob described how TurnKey Digital is adapting its search engine optimization strategies to help clients' brands, products, and services appear in AI-generated search results.
One practical example illustrates the technology's versatility. Restaurant owners often want photographs showing a lively dining room, but arranging a photo shoot with customers and staff can be challenging. Rob's team can use AI to add people to photographs of empty interiors, creating the desired atmosphere while retaining control over the image.
A Creative Partner, Not a Replacement
AI's potential extends well beyond business efficiency. It can help us research unfamiliar subjects, organize information, explore alternatives, and develop ideas that might otherwise take considerably more time—or remain unexplored altogether.
As a songwriter and composer, I've found AI useful as a sounding board. I can share rough ideas, ask questions, and explore different approaches. AI helps organize and flesh out my thoughts, presenting them in ways that allow me to react, refine my thinking, and discover connections I might have missed. I will continue to support live music and recordings made by real people. That said, there are certain mundane tasks involved in high-quality sound productions that I would gladly hand over to AI, allowing me to charge less or focus more on the creative aspects.
Collaboration can be liberating because it disrupts our habitual ways of thinking. I sometimes compare it to a game of tennis or a great conversation: you return what's coming at you, react in the moment, and discover possibilities you couldn't have planned in advance. A collaborator becomes a kind of creative disruptor, introducing something unexpected that takes the work in a new direction.
Could AI play a similar role? Beyond helping us organize our thoughts or work more efficiently, a dialogue with AI can introduce unexpected connections and alternatives that challenge our assumptions.
Rob describes a similar philosophy: “AI is a tool for augmentation, not replacement. It can generate ideas or draft frameworks, but human critical thinking, nuance, and strategic direction are required to refine that output into something meaningful. We treat AI as a partner, not a leader. We control the process and drive the direction.”
The Importance of Thinking for Ourselves
There are legitimate concerns surrounding AI, including intellectual property, privacy, originality, and accuracy. Questions remain about the use of copyrighted material to train AI systems and the ownership of generated content. Businesses and individuals should understand how their information is handled and verify the accuracy and appropriateness of AI-generated results.
Another concern is that relying too heavily on automation could discourage us from exercising our own problem-solving skills. Rob's approach is to treat AI-generated material as a starting point, not a finished product. Everything requires human review and validation before final execution.
His guiding principle is succinct: “Use AI to speed up execution, not to outsource critical thinking.”
Creativity and critical thinking aren't merely obstacles to efficiency. The process of imagining, experimenting, making judgments, and solving problems helps us learn and grow.
Beyond Imitation: Discovering New Possibilities
As a composer, I'm curious as to how AI might contribute to creativity itself. Much of the discussion about AI-generated music centers on its ability to imitate familiar styles and combine patterns learned from existing human-created works. This raises questions about copyright and originality, as well as the risk of producing an abundance of music that sounds increasingly generic.
A more compelling possibility is to use AI to explore what we haven't imagined yet. Throughout history, great composers and other artists have expanded the boundaries of their disciplines by challenging conventions and discovering new forms of expression. Could AI help us do the same?
Perhaps its greatest creative potential lies not in reproducing what has come before, but in helping us discover new ways to create. Imagine using AI to help transform the sounds of a community into an artistic experience, or to explore new ways for people with different backgrounds and abilities to make music together.
The goal is not necessarily to have AI produce finished work, but rather to help us explore possibilities, challenge our assumptions, and take our creative efforts in unexpected directions.
To learn more about Rob McClurg and TurnKey Digital, visit turnkeydigital.com.