If you are a professional in the field of design, art, development or any creative service, you have probably found yourself pondering about the future of your profession in the age of AI.

The bad news is: your profession will change. The good news is: you can change it by leveraging AI.

Upon seeing the umpteenth post on LinkedIn about the advances of the latest LLM and how it can generate photos, code, designs at unprecedented speed, you eventually have to come to terms with the topic, whether you have been trying to ignore it or not. The sequence of emotional states I have observed within me usually follows a similar pattern:

1. Unconditional, unbiased awe towards the advancement of technology and human innovation. This can be observed in comments like "this is insane", "amazing what AI can do now" etc..
2. Discomfort and dread once the inevitable link to your profession is established in your brain. Reactions become more ironic like "I guess I should start looking for another job already".
3. Panic, fear, and confusion. Here the onset of rejection may already appear in comments such as "this is concerning and needs to be regulated".
4. Rejection, opposition, disbelief. This state is the most conflictual and ranges from trying to discredit the content of the post as a fabrication – which actually has happened – to the firm conviction that AI is not as good as they say it is, or, if it is, that it's up to government and institutions to place limits and regulate it.
5. Acceptance and solution-oriented research. Having finally accepted and internalized the issue, you start looking for ways to learn AI and to use it to your advantage.

It's important to take the necessary time in each step to be able to see a path towards the 5th. The speed at which this process takes place depends on several aspects like your job, company, environment etc.., but each step carries the risk of getting stuck in a logical loop that reinforces the same emotional state. The important part is to get there, because that's where the work begins.