AI and work

Eva: "Yes, indeed. My experience is that I generally feel a certain excitement about this topic – I have to say that I haven't been this keen on a technical development since my studies. Almost every day something new comes out. A tool, a plugin or simply a new approach to using artificial intelligence. We don't yet have concrete programs in daily use in design, but we're continuously following the development – through webinars, training sessions or simply personal exchange."

Wolfgang: "When it comes to speed, I can only agree with you, Eva. In content, we've already looked at various tools, but in terms of usability we're certainly somewhat at an "advantage" compared to visually working disciplines, since most AIs produce text. That's our core business in content. For example, in serial content production – meta descriptions, teaser texts or product texts – we've already gained experience with tools Chat GPT and Jasper."

Eva: "In design, as mentioned, we're still in a phase of testing and trying things out. In this context, for example, we looked at UIzard. It's a tool that lets you go directly from a text brief to an interface design. Though I'd put "design" in inverted commas here: it has to be said that such tools are currently better suited to sketches or a rough ideation phase than to the fine differentiation of a website design."

Wolfgang: "No, I'm not afraid. I'm actually curious about what's coming. It has to be said that when it comes to creating text, we – at least currently – tend to use AI more as a tool, and it can only replace the actual editorial work to a very small extent. In fact, AI represents more of an extension of our capabilities. That's why we don't really view this development in content with concern. In many of our core competencies – such as our feel for our customers' tone of voice – it's unlikely to be able to replace us.

Marcus: “Yes, exactly, I also think that artificial intelligence (AI) puts us in a position to get even better. In our concept work and user research too, these tools help us focus even more sharply on the core of our work than before. In my view, the question of working with AI support isn't really about whether that will happen at some point, but rather how we integrate these new possibilities into our work. We need to make sure we integrate the latest tools and working methods involving artificial intelligence into our processes step by step. And continuously – we're only just at the start of an exciting process.”

Eva: "To come back once more to the question about our concerns: I don't actually think we need to be worried. AI can indeed take some tasks off our hands, especially when it comes to quickly developing ideas or working serially. But it doesn't really get close to the actual core of human creativity. Perhaps that's because AI itself has no inner drive, no need to be creative, to express itself or to bring joy to other people through it. In that, we humans are still quite distinctive."

25 years of interactive tools – future-proof through collaboration

As part of our 25th anniversary as a digital agency, we're looking at the future. Partnership-based relationships with our clients are, for us, the foundation of long-term success. Find out more about our thoughts on the future on our anniversary page.

25 years of interactive tools

Patrick: "I can say for myself that I regularly try out new tools and methods – and that certainly goes for many of my colleagues too. I also use ChatGPT, for example, and I'd definitely recommend the Turbo version, version 4, to any developer, since the risk of faulty results is much lower than with the free version. But what you generally have to say about coding with AI support is that you very often don't get clean code straight away. Sometimes the results actually look clean – but a small detail is wrong. That will certainly remain the case for the foreseeable future."

Patrick: "We currently use AI mainly as source of inspiration. For example, it makes suggestions that can simplify code. It's quite astonishing how quickly AI can reduce fairly complex lines of code down to just one line. However, this only works reliably if results are thoroughly checked by us humans. Another example is working in multiple iterations – I sometimes have alternatives or refinements of code shown to me in four, five or even ten steps. This happens primarily by adjusting the prompt, i.e. my briefing that I enter into AI's command line."

Marcus: "We actually work in a similar way in concept development and ideation processes. Through iterative refinement of results, we can quickly find inspiration, results and solutions, both textually and visually. This helps us, for example, in workshops when we want to brainstorm and sketch out ideas we've developed together. For the visual aids, we also talk about text-to-image prompts, which let us visualise our thinking."

Wolfgang: "I think it's very important to emphasise that, because in the end someone has to decide: this result is good and that one is completely unusable. An AI cannot currently deliver that in our context. The idea of a digital application that, with just a few keywords, conjures up a directly usable specialist article for our clients out of thin air is, from our point of view, still a lovely dream. Our experience in writing processes has shown that we would need to brief an AI very extensively to get a reasonably acceptable, detailed article. So it's possible, but also time-consuming. It's much more practical to write the article yourself. The AI can be a real asset in the creation process, though. It's a great tool when it comes to, for example, researching, finding narrative approaches for a topic, gathering different perspectives on issues, structuring texts, or providing suggested wording for individual sections. When it comes to putting finished thoughts into words, an AI tool like Jasper, for example, is already pretty good — however, "Jasper" can't judge that itself. Only we and our clients can do that — at least for now."

Topic: "AI can help deepen customer relationships and improve customer loyalty. Fundamentally, by using artificial intelligence, we give our customers the opportunity to gain a better understanding of the needs and preferences of their own target groups. As an agency, we help them with AI consulting and practice-oriented approaches to developing innovative solutions and services with which they can gain competitive advantages. Overall, the use of AI opens up new opportunities for us to intensify collaboration with our customers and build long-term partnerships."

Eva: "I believe that over the past year, it has become clear to all colleagues at interactive tools that we should not shy away from engaging with the topic of AI. We should approach the topic proactively and assertively, and must be ready to integrate new ways of working into our everyday lives."

Marcus: "Certainly, new job profiles will also emerge in the course of this process, and existing job profiles will change. We're already experiencing today that through clever "prompt engineering" we achieve acceptable results within a set framework. In the foreseeable future, this "prompting" could, for example, develop into a prerequisite that applicants need to bring for some jobs. Ultimately, the topic has the potential to affect the entire industry: how we collaborate, the content of our work and, of course, also our job profiles."

Thank you very much for the fascinating insights!