Much like the onset of the digital revolution in the early 2000s, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the way humans work, ideate, and consume information. Within the last year, AI has helped many white-collar workers expedite cumbersome processes and eliminate mundane tasks.
AI tools have also given small business owners and independent creators the ability to perform tasks with remarkable speed and efficiency. For instance, just a couple of years ago, creating a logo for a new company could have taken days–or even weeks–to complete since it required the business owner to search for, hire, and work with a graphic designer to bring the logo to life. Today, AI platforms can generate dozens of variations of a company logo in a matter of seconds with just a few prompts.
Launched in 2022 by OpenAI, ChatGPT is the wildly popular AI-generated chatbot and the fastest-growing consumer application in history, according to Reuters. The platform excels in various aspects of content creation, including brainstorming and research. Affectionately nicknamed “Chat” by many users, the platform generates and filters ideas, content, and information at scale, empowering creative professionals to bring new ideas, visions, and inspiration to fruition.
During the 23rd annual Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival last month, OpenAI presented a panel session that explored AI’s power to inspire, transform, and elevate storytelling. The dynamic panel of creative visionaries included Will “King Willonius” Hatcher, a comedian and AI storyteller; Lindsay Peoples, the Editor in Chief of New York Magazine’s The Cut; filmmaker Aaliyah Williams; and Mike Muse, a pop culture expert
and host of SiriusXM’s “The Mike Muse Show.” Moderated by Cori Murray, the executive vice president of editorial content at EBONY Magazine, the discussion explored how AI can be a powerful instrument that empowers creative professionals to manifest ideas, visions, and inspiration.“AI is in our lives. It’s not writing our stories, but it is helping. And I can see that it is truly a creative partner,” said Murray in her opening remarks.
Muse, an ABC News contributor, said AI has drastically reduced the amount of time he used to spend preparing for on-air appearances and interviews. Rather than taking hours to sift through vast amounts of data, Muse uses ChatGPT to find relevant information, trends, and insights specific to the subject matter at hand.
“I used to have to tirelessly [research] the night before I had a [TV] hit,” he said. “I would research numbers. I would research historical facts. I would go back to the 1960s. I would go back to the 1970s. I would go back to what the framers of the Constitution were thinking,” he continued. “That is painstaking. It is painstaking to be accurate. It is painstaking to be data-led.”
Although using AI has decreased Muse’s prep time, he noted that the AI can’t replace someone’s ability to understand, recite, or contextualize the data. Nor does it have the ability to make a real-life appearance.
“It can’t do the conversation for me on television,” he said. “You have to be smart in order to read the data. You have to be smart in order to interpret the data.” He added, “you also have to [fact] check the data that you’ve been given.”
Similarly, Peoples said she uses AI to help her synthesize and pinpoint key information in 250-page legal documents.
Williams said using Chat has given her more time for leisure and socializing by helping her compose recommendation letters and review film scripts.
“I call my ChatGPT ‘Lumie,’” she told the audience. “I figured out how I can shape my ChatGPT in my image, in my voice, and in how I write notes to some of my creative partners.”
Hatcher, who created the viral AI-generated song “BBL Drizzy” in 2023, credits ChatGPT for his breakthrough in Hollywood.
“Originally, I started using AI to try to break into Hollywood. I had a bunch of scripts, and I started making AI movie trailers based on my scripts.”
He also revealed his plans to turn “BBL Drizzy” into a narrative dome experience at a planetarium, which uses immersive, full-dome video, narrated storytelling, and interactive features to tell stories.
“I would not have been able to do that without AI. It allows you to dream bigger and then figure out ways to execute on your vision.”
Muse added that AI tools have helped democratize the entry point into the entertainment industry. As a result, this could decentralize gatekeeping in Hollywood and captapult new storytellers.
“It’s reducing the financial barrier to allow individuals who may not have had access,” he said, noting that AI helps individuals write scripts and create movies without big budgets, resources, or access to studios.
“Hollywood has got to be on notice that the disruption is coming.
It’s a matter of how we think about it, how we partner with it, how we reposition, how we recreate, and how we upskill the craftsmen that are part of it so that they don’t get left out,” said Muse.The panelist went on to emphasize the need for Black creators to educate themselves about AI to avoid getting left behind in today’s intelligence age.
“We have to lean in and start utilizing these tools,” said Hatcher.
Following the discussion, Hatcher explained how AI has not only helped him ascend as both a creator and entrepreneur, but it has also transformed his life.
“AI has unlocked all of my creativity. It has allowed me to express myself, and it’s really empowered me as a creative and a business owner to just do things that I didn’t think were possible. Like with AI agents and automation tools, you can operate like you’re a much larger organization,” he told BLACK ENTERPRISE. “You can story tell in ways you’ve never been able to in the past,” he continued.
“Leading into 2026, we’re going to see a lot more innovation happen, especially as it pertains to the AI film space. So, I just want us to be prepared and not get blindsided.”
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