Why Creating Matters

Art. Poetry. Literature. Architecture. Storytelling. Music.

All of these things used to be solely created by humans. In 2026, society entered into a world where the responsibility and process of creation has been reallocated to artificial intelligence. The new modern, innovative man has opted for efficient, effortless art that is available in seconds through prompt engineering rather than art created by an emotional, fallible human being that could take months of painstaking labor. There are lots of fears, feelings, and forecasting surrounding this next technological evolution and many are uneasy of the already ubiquitous nature of AI. The question naturally arises, is turning to AI to create for us wrong?

Why does the act and process of creating even matter? 

What makes a creation valuable? Why does human authorship matter when we have tools and platforms that can create the same thing faster and "better"? If AI "art" is more easily customizable, generated faster, and costs much less, why would a person pay a traditional, human artist? What is the downside?

So I ask again, why does the act and process of creating even matter?

I was listening to an interview with Dr. John Lenox on the "Diary of a CEO" podcast the other day. Even though the discourse was primarily focused upon religion, the questions kept dancing around the hulking elephant in the room: artificial intelligence. At one point, Steven Bartlett (host of the Diary of a CEO) asks Dr. Lennox why it matters if AI created something versus a human being. "What is it that makes us special?".  

Dr. Lennox calmly replies, "AI is something made in the image of humans, and that's a dangerous thing. I'd prefer something made in the image of God".

Made in the image of God. Not made in the image of the world, image of the stars, image of pop culture. We are imagers of God (Genesis 1:26).

If you've ever been to Sunday school at church, you're probably familiar with Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." God created. He Himself is the first Creator. If we are to be representative of Him, we too have a responsibility to create. It is in our very DNA to be creative.

Naturally the question may arise, what do you mean by "creative"? This is a complicated question to explain. Take for instance, an AI painting machine. No matter how precise the algorithm gets or how trained the models are, the AI machine will never truly see the color red. It can know the historic uses of red, the hex code, the color theory of red, the psychology of red, etc. But it won't ever understand the feeling of red, the emotion of red, or the beauty of red. Creativity is a God-given mechanism that connects us to the divine. It is not something that could ever be programmed by a human, because we cannot create something in the image of God, only God can.

What does "creativity" look like when it is produced from an AI? What about an AI generated song tells you the story of the artist who seems to be singing it? Are AI generated children's books something which point to truth or are they simply nice stories with familiar plots? Does the perfectly color-coordinated canvas-print of shapes and lines in your living room create an atmosphere of authenticity or does the perfection, timidity, and lack of voice create a sterile environment better suited for an operating room? A machine will never be able to simulate a human brain completely. And a machine will never possess a soul.

To quote Dr. Lennox, "The big question to be faced is: How can an ethical dimension be built into an algorithm that is itself devoid of heart, soul, and mind?". In other words, "a painting by Picasso cannot be fully explained by analyzing the molecules of paint; it requires recognizing the mind of the artist".

Even as I sit here typing out my thoughts, the top comment underneath this video of a pianist skillfully playing says, "support non-ai music". We all feel it. We know in the depths of our being this is wrong. We know that we crave authentic connection to each other and to our Creator. Creativity gives us a voice, it heals us, gives us a purpose and an identity. It allows us to partner with God in creation.

But will you sacrifice your conviction for your convenience?

If we stop creating, if we let the corporations, technological innovators, and the fast-paced society we inhabit convince us to stop creating, we will quickly find ourselves in a reductive world that ceases to hold any meaning. A world devoid of color that is seen, felt, and held. And we will be forever disconnected. That's why I will always create. I was created to create.

If you would like to watch the podcast I referenced, you can find it here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLrvJeSugkM