Now and boldly into the future, 95% of content creators will begin to deemphasize the act of craft-specific creation and shift their focus to curation. Since the dedicated “crafts” of many creatives - design, photo, video, etc. - is rapidly being democratized by an endless stream of click-for-results AI tools, these historical 10,000-hour skillsets will widely become moot. Most notably in the eyes of employers seeking creative talent. Future creative leaders will be tastemakers, selected for their distinct vision and personal style preferences, rather than their ability to “make the thing.”

The remaining 5% (or less) of creatives also have a unique but narrow opportunity: the chance to align themselves with a cottage industry of traditional, non-fiction creators that continue to uphold and execute on craft-focused, authentic content - like documentary video, photojournalism, etc. In due time, these elite freelance folks will ironically be able to demand premium fees for their far more complex crafts (compared to their AI peers), which demand more time, executional excellence, and a sought-after vision-meets-execution superpower. This growing micro-industry is filled with the likes of one-person-band multidisciplinary pros, “small footprint, big impact” video production teams, and specific-medium creators with a knack for physical, tactile skills.

Yet into the future we march. New brands and companies are spun up overnight, producing 10X the amount of content with a skeleton crew. So, what really makes one of those brands stand out in a sea of visual sameness?

Curation. Our keyword returns, emphasizing a skillset most traditionally owned by art directors and editors. These types are the blueprint for the arbiters of future creative roles in an AI-native landscape. The bottleneck is no longer volume or speed of content creation, but in the task of weeding through an AI mire to find golden nuggets of attention-grabbing style.

Individual, exquisite taste is set to be the marketable currency of future creative leaders. Bet on it.

Disclaimer: Written with my brain, no AI needed this time.