Photography didn’t kill painting.
It created Impressionism.
I was reminded of that during a visit to USC this season as an emerita member of the Alumni Association Board of Governors.
As a student in one of my USC Annenberg classes years ago, we studied how technology disrupted art over time.
Before photography emerged in the 1800s, artists tried to accurately mirror real life in their paintings.
Then cameras arrived.
Suddenly, photographs could capture reality better than paintings ever could.
So some artists stopped competing with the technology.
Instead, they created something technology could not replicate.
Emotion. Interpretation. Perspective.
We now know them as the Impressionists. Artists like Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, and Mary Cassatt.
There’s an important lesson for us in the age of AI.
Too many people are trying to out-machine the machine.
The better path is twofold:
1. Work with AI to improve outcomes.
2. Double down on what AI still cannot genuinely replicate: judgment, lived experience, discernment, empathy, perspective, and connection.
Technology rarely eliminates human expression.
It changes the medium.
It spurs evolution.
After all, video didn’t really kill the radio star either.
Radio evolved into podcasts, long-form conversation, and new kinds of storytelling.
Maybe the same will happen with writing, leadership, and communication.
The people who stand out won’t be the ones who sound the most polished.
They’ll be the ones who sound unmistakably human.
What’s one thing you do that AI can’t replicate?
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