If you ask faculty member Micah Berry, the current panic surrounding the rapid rise and development of generative artificial intelligence feels familiar. Looking at the progression of the ad industry over the past 75 years or so, you’ll find that the tools, media and processes used are constantly evolving with new technology.
“Creativity has always been disrupted by new tools,” Berry explains. “And all of those new tools feel like the end of creativity to some, until it becomes the new craft.”
For example, art direction used to look very different than it does today. Before Adobe programs and graphic design, professionals illustrated ads by hand or assembled layouts by physically cutting and pasting images from magazines. In the 1950s, some art directors worried they were losing their craft if they weren’t working with scissors and glue. In the 90s, desktop publishing was predicted to “ruin design” and Photoshop was called the end of photography. Later, the iPhone made everyone a photographer.
All of these innovations were initially met with a mixture of fear, skepticism, and awe, but today most creative professionals cannot imagine working without them.
In a recent session on the intersection of creativity and technology, Berry—a self-described “super nerd” and former Director of Technology at Arts & Letters—outlined the Brandcenter’s philosophy on AI. The approach is not about blindly jumping on a bandwagon; it is about shaping how the next generation of creatives will lead.
The Power of Iteration
Berry demystifies the technology, defining AI simply as “pattern recognition plus prediction.” It doesn’t think; it guesses based on data. However, that guessing capability offers a distinct advantage: speed.
For Berry, the utility of AI lies in prototyping and concepting. What used to take days of Photoshop work or expensive production shoots can now be visualized in minutes. This allows students and professionals to iterate rapidly, getting ideas out of their heads and into a tangible format faster than ever before. “It makes things faster and cheaper,” Berry notes, “but neither of those things replaces our taste, our craft, and our storytelling.”
The Human Edge
A core tenet of Berry’s curriculum is that while AI can generate, it cannot curate. Across every discipline, the human element remains the differentiator:
- In Copywriting: AI can spit out endless lines, but they often sound generic. The human edge is voice and point of view.
- In Strategy: AI can crunch research and scenarios at lightning speed, but the human edge is insight—knowing what is true and how to frame it.
- In Art Direction: AI can simulate lighting and camera moves, but the human edge is composition and visual storytelling.
- In Creative Brand Management: AI can organize information and automate workflows, but the human edge is leadership—building relationships and aligning teams
Prompting with Principles
Perhaps the most distinct aspect of the Brandcenter’s approach is the educational focus. The curriculum isn’t focused on teaching “magic words” to type into a prompt bar. It is focused on the fundamentals that make those prompts work.
“We start with the principle, not the prompt,” Berry says. To use a video generation tool effectively, a student must first understand cinematography, lighting, and framing. They need the lexicon of the craft to guide the tool.
The Slope of Enlightenment
Looking toward the future, Berry references the “Gartner Hype Cycle,” a framework that tracks how new technologies move from early excitement to everyday use. Most technologies take about three to five years to move through the cycle and reach mainstream adoption.
According to the model, industries often go through a period of inflated expectations before hitting a “trough of disillusionment,” when the technology doesn’t immediately deliver on the hype. Berry believes we’re now moving toward what the model calls the “slope of enlightenment,” when people begin to figure out the most useful ways to apply these tools in their work.
By the time the Classes of 2026, 2027, and 2028 enter the workforce, agencies will be looking for talent that possesses these “superpowers”—graduates who can use these tools to elevate work, rather than just speeding up the process.
“AI will not take your job, because AI is not thinking about anything,” Berry says. “But somebody with craft, taste, ethics, and a better process might.”
Want to read more?
Check out the first edition of Micah's AI / Creative Tech Newsletter, Lab Notes.