Creativity vs Content

I’ve used Adobe products since 2002. I’m far from their biggest fan.

But they taught me something when I last visited their homepage.

When listing their verticals, they detailed “Creativity and design” as their first one.

Makes sense.

Followed by “Content creation”.

Huh. (Then PDFs and all that other stuff they do.)

Creativity and design. Totally different to — and not to be confused with — content creation.

For “Creativity and design”, they describe industry-leading apps for design, photo, video, and… “creative AI” (whatever that means).

Then, for “Content creation”, they describe how you can “quickly” create and edit images with “creative AI”, “easily”.

The former is focused on using top tools to do great work (with occasional slop).

The latter is focused on prioritizing fast, easy slop (without a creative bone in your body required).

The lesson I learned: Don’t think of “content” as “creativity”. Don’t think of “content” as the discipline of creating things that matter for people who care. Think of it as empty banalities offered at the altar of algorithms, designed to direct your attention toward those who didn’t earn it.

Duly noted, Adobe.