AI is everywhere. From the big screen to security screens to the screen in your pocket. AI didn’t knock on the door. It waltzed right in, cracked a LaCroix, and wants to know what you’re working on. Now it’s hanging out in brainstorms. Punching out headlines. Retouching images before you’ve even opened your email. Some of that is incredible. And some of it? Just…meh. Fast, flat, and forgettable.
As the singularity nears, the question isn’t if we should react, but how: do we revolt against our replacement, rewire our thinking around it, or reimagine how we use this tool to bolster creativity?
So what does it look like to use AI without losing the plot—or your point of view?
At SixSpeed, we don’t think the future belongs to whoever has the fanciest subscription or the most complicated prompt stack. It belongs to the ones who use this stuff with purpose. The ones who let AI help them move faster, but not so fast they forget why they started. Because if there’s one thing AI can’t fake, it’s soul.
We work in a business that sells ideas—wild, subjective sparks that make people feel. But we operate in a world obsessed with speed, scale, and certainty while facing shrinking budgets, vanishing timelines, and algorithms that reward safe bets. A tool that can spit out a hundred options in the time it takes to microwave your lunch can feel like the answer to everything.
And to be clear: we move fast too. Because our client’s time and money matter. But as we like to say, “we move smart because speed without wisdom means you might not be around to run the next race.”
When speed becomes the only goal—especially powered by AI—it flattens every idea into the same polite sludge. And that’s not just uninspired and bland. It’s bad business. Originality isn’t optional—being impossible to imitate is how adventurous brands break through. After all, to be what others can’t, you have to do what they won’t.
That gut-punch of knowing. The nuance of culture and language. The weird, wonderful non-logic that sparks creativity.
AI can generate, but it can’t care. It doesn’t give a shit like we do. It can give you a synonym for ache, but it’s never felt loss or stubbed its toe.
And in an industry that runs on emotion and edge, those aren’t bugs—they’re the whole point. We’re all chasing work that actually makes people feel something. AI can’t.
AI is just an accelerant. A tool that helps you cut through the noise and get to the guts of the idea faster. But the best ideas need a human at the helm to make them matter.
Everyone’s using AI. Your competitors. Your cousin in real estate. And yes, agencies. But the edge isn’t in whether you adopt it. It’s in how you use it.
Heavy reliance on AI makes everything feel the same. The same safe ideas. The same soft-focus, out-of-proportion slop. And it doesn’t just flatten your work—it dulls your thinking. A 2025 study in Forbes found that frequent AI users lost the muscle memory to think critically. And the sick twist? AI will tell you you’re brilliant while you’re getting dumber. Don’t let the shortcut become your ceiling. If you’re already at the top of your game but find yourself sprinting toward mass-produced mediocrity, you’re in last place before the race even starts.
What’s more, as these tools get better humans will continue getting better at telling the difference between real and fake. As an example, the first deep fakes blew our minds, but now when we go back and look at them, they're very obviously fake. Ultimately, machines leave traces of their DNA that become increasingly easy to detect.
We’re not anti-AI. We’re anti-generic. At SixSpeed, we use AI to:
Kickstart messy first drafts
We built our own rules—not because we’re clinging to the old ways, but because we respect the craft too much to hand over the keys.
PROMPT WITH PURPOSE
Garbage in, garbage out. A great prompt still comes from strategy, taste, and unhinged curiosity.
NAVIGATE THE NUGGETS
Think of AI as your hyper-speed coal cart. It can haul the load, but it can’t tell you what’s worth keeping.
SPRINGBOARD, NOT STOPGAP
Great ideas take time. AI can help get you started faster, but it’s not meant to fill the hole where human thought and feeling is meant to be.
PROTECT THE SOUL
We don’t hand over final creative without a human in the loop. Ever. Not because we’re scared—but because we care.
DELIVER THE HUMANITY
Like us, AI learns from experience. The difference? It’s not learning from its own—it’s learning from ours. We still own the realm of experience, and can parlay that into what’s resonant, meaningful, true, and appealing.
TO SUM IT UP...
Are the robots coming for our jobs? Maybe. But here’s our hot take:
If AI can’t replace the intangibles that make work real, then it can’t replace us. AI doesn’t understand a fleeting cultural moment. It doesn’t feel the thrill of a big idea or the anxiety of pitching it. It doesn’t care. And it can’t come up with anything new.
We do, and we can. And that’s table stakes for how we help brands become impossible to imitate.
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