The arrival of generative AI has radically expanded the landscape of creative possibility. A single prompt can now unfold into dozens—sometimes hundreds—of images, narratives or concepts within minutes. It is an abundance that would have seemed unimaginable to creators even a decade ago. But what this abundance has introduced is a new kind of creative responsibility, one that echoes through the work of artists and thinkers who have long understood the value of discernment: John Berger writing about the act of truly seeing, Agnes Martin describing the quiet rigor of choosing “what belongs,” or composer Philip Glass speaking of the discipline required to find the right repetition in a sea of possible ones. In today’s GenAI-driven environment, their insights feel more contemporary than ever.

Generative models—Midjourney v7, GPT-5, Runway Gen-3—offer something that once required vast budgets, large teams and extended timelines: near-instant multiplicity. But this multiplicity does not, on its own, lead to better creative work. The models generate what they have learned from the world, shaped by statistical association rather than personal insight. Their output is often coherent, sometimes surprising, occasionally breathtaking—but always impartial. What they produce is the beginning of choice, not the end of it.

This distinction matters. When an AI system presents a dozen strong visual directions, the task shifts from creation to interpretation. A model’s abundance becomes meaningful only through the filter of human judgment, the same filter that guided cultural figures across time—from Ava DuVernay’s instinct for emotional rhythm, to Zadie Smith’s sensitivity to tonal precision, to Paul Rand’s lifelong belief that design is fundamentally about making decisions. Their work reminds us that originality is not simply a matter of producing something new, but of selecting what resonates, what holds integrity, what feels inevitable.

And this is where Copy Lab’s philosophy becomes unmistakably clear: the sacred partnership between humans and GenAI depends on human discernment. AI may generate endlessly, but it cannot feel the subtle recognition that signals when an idea has found its shape. It cannot sense when a concept aligns with cultural nuance, or when a particular direction holds emotional potential. It cannot perceive the difference between a technically correct solution and one that carries personality, tension or purpose.

This act of choosing has always been central to creative work, but the speed and scale of GenAI have transformed it into the core creative skill of our time. When every iteration looks polished, the creator must look inward rather than outward. When the system provides countless “plausible” options, the human becomes the one who determines relevance. And when the tools can mimic nearly any style, it is the human viewpoint—shaped by experience, taste and intention—that ensures the work does not dissolve into stylistic anonymity.

This is not a burden; it is an invitation. The abundance GenAI provides allows creators to explore without fear of waste. It opens pathways that previously required days or weeks to test. It democratizes experimentation. But abundance without taste produces noise, and exploration without judgment becomes drift. The role of the creator is not diminished by AI’s capabilities—it is elevated. The eye becomes sharper. The intuition becomes more essential. The sense of meaning becomes the anchor in a much larger sea of possibility.

Look at how great filmmakers work. Chloé Zhao speaks of editing as a process of discovering what the film “wants to be.” Martin Scorsese describes combing through footage for the moment that holds the emotional truth. In literature, George Saunders talks about revising until the story “rings true.” These creators are not merely making—they are selecting. Their craft lies in knowing why something matters, not simply that it exists.

GenAI shifts more creatives into that position. The tools generate. The human elevates. The partnership becomes a dynamic conversation in which the model proposes directions and the creator interprets them with cultural, emotional and intellectual context. It is here that Copy Lab situates its belief: not in replacing the human hand, but in amplifying the human eye.

The act of choosing is what transforms output into art, variation into intention, possibility into message. In a world where generative models can produce endless alternatives, the human role becomes clearer, not weaker. The creator is the one who sees.

And in the era of GenAI, seeing—in Berger’s deep, attentive sense of the word—is the most important creative act of all.

/Carl-Axel Wahlström, Creative Director Copy Lab, 2025