A Small Prompt. A Viral Moment. A Shift in Creativity.
It started with a prompt. Ended with a viral moment. Somewhere between that single prompt and millions of views, I realized the impossible had just become the inevitable.
It was the night of Google I/O. Veo 3, Google’s latest video generation model, was announced, and this time, it spoke. As a curious creative with early access, I typed in Arabic, hit generate, and braced. For what, I wasn’t sure. But I braced. Then, when the output came back fluent, warm, and unmistakably human, I froze. Check the output here.
In that instant, I didn’t know I was making the first-ever fully AI-generated film in Arabic. I didn’t know it would go viral, or spark a wildfire of user-generated content across the Arab world – everything from national tributes to wonderfully quirky business ads.
But most of all, I didn’t expect it to punch a hole straight through everything I thought I knew about creativity.
Creativity Used to Be a Club, Not a Capability
Before Google, I was in the creative agency world where creativity wasn’t just your job, it was your identity, your persona. Being “creative” was a club badge you wore with pride, as I did. Sure, we never intentionally locked the door, but let’s be honest, we certainly didn’t hand out maps to everyone. Tools, jargon, portfolios, budgets, they all served as quiet forms of gatekeeping. Even inside agencies, many felt like creativity wasn’t theirs to claim. (Shout out to every strategist and account manager ever told to “stay in their lane.”)
At Google, we replaced gatekeeping with belief. “Everyone is creative” became more than a mantra. It became a methodology. At the ZOO, we built the proprietary MAChINE Sprint to unlock co-creation across disciplines. But even then, the playing field wasn’t fully level. The best work still came from creative professionals, not the Brand Manager. Not because others lacked ideas, but because they lacked the tools to express them. We invited everyone to create, but invitation alone wasn’t enough.
Until now.
The Machines Didn’t Just Open the Gates, They Dismantled Them
That’s the seismic shift we’re witnessing. Tools like Veo 3, Imagen 4, Whisk, and Stitch didn’t just lower the barrier to entry. They raised the floor.
Skeptics will say AI churns out soulless content. To them, I say: look closer.
My video wasn’t just made by AI; it unlocked human expression. People in the region didn’t relate to it for the tech itself, but because the tech suddenly understood their dialects, their nuances, their stories. They felt genuinely seen, profoundly heard. That isn’t creative automation. That’s creative liberation.
You know creativity’s gone wide when engineers are debating camera angles, business leaders are getting playful with their slides, and sales teams are the first to RSVP to creative trainings. Because isn’t this the whole point of creativity?
The More We Create, the More Originality Matters
For the first time, creativity didn’t feel like a resource to ration. There was enough for everyone. The keys weren’t just forged; they’ve been handed over. AI didn’t make creativity easier. It made it possible, for more people, in more ways. And if democratized creativity means your aunt starts posting (even more) pixelated quotes over AI-generated sunsets… consider it a small price for a big shift.
Because what we’re witnessing isn’t creative dilution. It’s creative amplification. When anyone can create, the only thing left that matters is what stands out. In this ocean, originality matters more, not less. The idea is still the star. The difference now? More people get to bring theirs to life. And just like that, the old creative playbook got shredded. Here’s what’s replacing it:
Momentum over perfection, perspective over production value, concept over credentials, vision over validation, new voices over familiar reels.
Creativity Isn’t at the Table, It’s Driving the Conversation
For decades, creatives sought a seat at the business table. Then people like Scott Galloway declared those seats extinct, relics of a bygone “Clow-Jobs” era. Maybe he was right.
But now, something better is happening: Creativity isn’t just back at the table, it’s redefining what’s being said and by whom.
I’m witnessing this early shift firsthand. CMOs no longer solely carry the creative conversation – CTOs are their new best friends, and their CEOs have joined in too. AI-powered creativity has reframed the entire conversation around growth, personalization, and brand voice. Creativity isn’t a cost center anymore. It’s the growth engine.
I could flood you with data points to prove it but just this once, let’s skip the numbers and savor the victory. This marks the beginning of the end of choosing between creativity and business. It’s about those not in the business of creativity recognizing that creativity is business.
Opposite the client side, the faces around the table are changing, too. They’re a new breed: prompt engineers with taste, media strategists with storytelling instincts, and those Brand Managers in Sprints, they now build scenes, not just slides. The truth? Creativity isn’t just more inclusive. It’s more competitive.
And I couldn’t be happier.
So What Now?
If you’ve ever called yourself creative, this is your wakeup call. If you’ve never dared to, this is your invitation.
We’ve hyped “democratization of creativity” for years, but until now, it was more TED-talk than reality. AI just erased the gap between imagination and creation. And the only things you need now are a story worth telling and the guts to tell it.
The brief has never been more open. The tools have never been more accessible. The competition has never been more intense.
We’re still figuring all of this out together. We’re all figuring it out, but one thing’s certain: there’s never been a more exciting time to be creative.
