Prompt Engineering v. Creative Briefing

DALL·E 2022 “language engineer wrestling with words in futuristic lab” + L-R “digital art,” “Picasso,” “synthwave”)

This was inevitable.

Quick primer: “Prompt Engineering” refers to the words, the prompt, given to an artificial intelligence to incite creation of something. You might prompt an image (as above: three examples of artwork generated from the prompt, “language engineer wrestling with words in futuristic lab”)… or some copy, or even a “concept.”

Sounds an awful lot like the purpose of a creative brief, doesn’t it? Now, go read Dan Hon’s brilliant narrative “Duolingo, but for talking to ML Image Generators.”

Is this where creative briefing is heading?

Are strategists inevitably just engineers of prompts?

I’m reminded of Kurt Vonnegut’s book Player Piano. There seems an inevitable human characteristic bent towards automation. Wouldn’t it be great if robots could plow our fields for us? Fold our laundry? Write our advertising? Design our things? The notion of Machine Learning-derived creativity is appealing on at least two levels: First, as a thing to be achieved! There’s much to be marveled at here. The parlor trick is endlessly fascinating.

But the real reason Prompt Engineering draws attention is because it suggests Creativity can be Science and not Art.

A creative brief exists at the crux of a fundamental human activity: To solve a problem with something novel. The brief attempts to define a problem and distill an insight in order to inspire creativity. Optimally, the end result of the creativity changes human behavior. And business moves up and to the right.

The trouble is that bit in the middle—“distill an insight to inspire creativity.” That sounds somewhat messy, a bit unpredictable, chaotic and unfortunately human. It probably means someone has to have “taste.” Oftentimes the politics and purpose of creative briefing are merely attempts to codify a predictable, scientific approach to creativity, and to de-risk the inherent Art. “We’d like all the benefits of a heretofore unseen idea with none of the potential negative side effects, please.”

Prompt Engineering sounds like it might try to deliver on that promise.

So the reality is, if you work in strategy or creativity, you should be keenly curious about and actively engaged with these technologies. Because they are coming for all of us.