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In 2022, it felt as if creatives had been erased from society. Identities were being stripped away due to a new tool emerging: ChatGPT, then Gemini, Meta, Copilot, Claude, and so many more. This is also when society progressively started to become disconnected. The overreliance started to become apparent when some started to ask it to do their homework assignments, essays, final projects, reading responses, etc.
However, it started to progress and manipulate so many other things, one of them being the creation of images, whether that be generating an image of a family member being in Europe or distorting one of Picasso’s paintings. Individuals started to feed artificial intelligence because they did not want to nourish their cognitive abilities any longer. They believe that everything feels so easy now; life is so simple and less stressful.
But isn’t such a concept so dull?
For life to be so simplistic. It sounds so still and unfulfilling. It's true one might be able to finish their task with much ease. Save so much time by using AI. But what is the point of it all if there’s no means of reflection, if there are no silent gaps in our daily lives that allow us to think and generate new ideas, and if there is no driven passion involved? Absolute separation and an accessible way out to do what we humans are meant to do: to think, to feel, to create, to connect.
In 2025, I remember going to my annual eye exam, and the optometrist asked what I study, and I said, “English literature and writing and rhetoric.” He just looked at me for a second with no expression on his face, but then he said, “Well, don’t you think AI will take your job? How do you feel about that?” I said I felt frustrated for those who have already lost their jobs, but that we will be essential to society sooner than he expects.
After leaving the office, I was in shock that I was asked such a question. But at the same time, I understood why he thought that, witnessing the dependence that humanity has had on AI, whether that be him using it himself or just observing the ways in which others use it. Artificial intelligence is able to poison our environments, as well as rot the human mind.
I have often gotten the question that the optometrist asked me, and I continue with the same answer. Artificial intelligence continues to evolve on a daily basis; due to this, there is also an evolving crisis of critical thinking amongst those who depend on these tools.
The more this increases, the more detached humanity becomes, and this is exactly where those who have studied and are devoted to art and humanities flourish and are valued the most within this structure. We are the ones who seek a means of intimacy, vulnerability, authenticity, and originality.
These are all elements that artificial intelligence will never accomplish because such a codification is only installed within the human mind and spirit. I believe that the more disconnected humanity becomes, the more they will start craving these elements that make us human, that make us whole.
At the current moment, there are many creatives who are unavoidably losing thousands of opportunities, as well as being stripped away from the job market. Superiors believe that AI could do it all, but I believe there will be a point at which it will all collapse because poison is meant to kill at some point.
We will be craved once again and needed more than ever before. They will see that and hopefully recognize that if we are erased, society will as well. So how can we try to repair this? The first step is to go back to the foundations of creativity itself.
To move your hands with a pencil, a brush, a camera, a script, or any creative element that your identity is intertwined with, and use the most essential tool of them all: your mind, to create something that makes you feel, and you will find at least one way that it connects to a piece of your sense of self, your purpose, and your mission as a human.
Strike Out,
Written by: Brenda Nunes
Edited by: Arsheeya Garg and Jaz DeGuzman
Brenda Nunes is a staff writer for Strike Magazine, Orlando. At the moment, she is pursuing her bachelor's degree in English literature with a minor in writing and rhetoric at the University of Central Florida. Beyond writing, she finds a sense of peace in sharing her life experiences with others and in hearing the personal experiences that others have had in her community. She hopes her stories will help readers embrace their own sense of belonging.
