Generative AI and Creative Work: Narratives, Values, and Impacts

2025-02-06

AI Summary

This study critically examines how generative AI reconfigures the cultural definition and economic logic of creative labor. Employing critical discourse analysis, media content analysis, and narrative theory, it systematically deconstructs the “techno-optimist” ideology embedded in dominant technological discourses. The analysis identifies three hegemonic narratives—creative work as disembodied from material labor, efficiency as synonymous with progress, and skill displacement as democratization—exposing their mechanisms of labor devaluation, professional expertise erosion, and value reconfiguration under automation. Its key contribution lies in the first systematic demonstration of how these narratives function to structurally empower technical capital within the creative ecosystem, thereby challenging the myth of AI neutrality and offering a theoretical foundation for interrogating power asymmetries and cultural hegemony in the creative economy. (149 words)

Technology Category

• Philosophy and Ethics of AI: AI & Jobs/Labor
• Humans and AI: Game Design — Procedural Content Generation & Storytelling
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Computational Creativity

Application Category

• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Economic ramifications for generative AI infrastructure and applications
• Social Networks and Social Media: Generative AI / large language models and their impact on social systems
• Responsible Web: Web for democratic and emancipatory futures

Abstract

Generative AI has gained a significant foothold in the creative and artistic sectors. In this context, the concept of creative work is influenced by discourses originating from technological stakeholders and mainstream media. The framing of narratives surrounding creativity and artistic production not only reflects a particular vision of culture but also actively contributes to shaping it. In this article, we review online media outlets and analyze the dominant narratives around AI's impact on creative work that they convey. We found that the discourse promotes creativity freed from its material realisation through human labor. The separation of the idea from its material conditions is achieved by automation, which is the driving force behind productive efficiency assessed as the reduction of time taken to produce. And the withdrawal of the skills typically required in the execution of the creative process is seen as a means for democratising creativity. This discourse tends to correspond to the dominant techno-positivist vision and to assert power over the creative economy and culture.

Problem

• Analyzes AI's impact on creative work narratives.
• Examines automation's role in democratizing creativity.
• Explores techno-positivist influence on creative economy.

Innovation

• Analyzes narratives in online media
• Focuses on AI's automation in creativity
• Explores democratisation of creative skills