What is Generative AI: Understanding GEN AI | Artlist
Understanding generative AI Understanding generative AI Understanding generative AI Understanding generative AI Understanding generative AI

Highlights

Generative AI is playing a key role in content creation and will continue to grow in the future.
Learn about some of the most popular Gen AI models available, as well as the benefits and dangers of generative AI.
As a creator, it’s important to understand how generative AI works and how it can assist us in our creative work.

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Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence that can create new content, such as text, images, music, or even videos, based on patterns it has learned from existing data. It works by using advanced algorithms, often involving neural networks, to mimic human creativity. For example, it can write stories, generate artwork, or produce realistic voices. The concept has been around for decades, but recent advances, like GPT and DALL·E, have made it much more powerful and accessible, allowing people to use it for tasks like writing, designing, or even brainstorming new ideas.

All of the above was generated by AI when I asked for “a short paragraph explaining what generative AI is and its main uses.” You see how easy all of this is getting? In 2025, generative AI will play an ever more important role in content creation. In fact, it already is. Learning how to adapt to this new world and work with this new array of tools is key to being a successful content creator in 2025. So, what is generative AI, and how can we benefit from it?

What is artificial intelligence?

Let’s start with the basics. Artificial intelligence (AI) is any machine or system made by humans that can learn, think, and act like a person. Generative AI is a special kind of AI that creates new things, like text, images, sounds, or videos. It learns from existing information to make new content.

What are the main Gen AI models available today?

Taking a look at some of the most well-known AI Gen models available to us today, you can begin to build up an idea of the various ways in which generative AI can help assist in content creation. You may have seen some of these mentioned around different corners of the internet already.

Generative AI ModelDescription and uses
GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer)GPT models (like Chat GPT-4 by Open AI, or Claude by Anthropic,) are designed to generate human-like text. They’re used for writing articles, answering questions, translating languages, doing research, creating chatbots, and many other productive tasks.
DALL·E 2Also from OpenAI, DALL·E 2 creates images from text prompts. Users can generate artwork, product designs, or visual content just by simply describing what they want the image to be.
Stable DiffusionThis is a popular open-source model for generating high-quality images from text prompts, similar to DALL·E. It’s widely used for creative projects, including digital art, illustrations, and photo editing.
MidJourneyA specialized image-generation tool known for its artistic and visually striking outputs, MidJourney is commonly used by designers and artists for creative inspiration.
MusicLMDeveloped by Google, this model can generate music from text prompts, allowing users to create songs, melodies, or soundscapes by simply describing the desired mood or genre.
DeepDreamDeepDream is a model developed by Google that creates surreal and dreamlike images, which are often used for artistic experimentation and enhancing existing photos.

Artlist’s new AI video generator is a carefully curated collection of generative AI models and visual styles built to specially fit the needs of video creators. This powerful new tool is also the only AI generator for images and videos that comes with a catalog of world-class creative assets: music, SFX, footage, LUTs, and editing tools, so you really have everything you need to create amazing video projects. Plus, all your creations are covered by the Artlist license for use in commercial projects.

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What are the benefits of generative AI?

So, now that we know what generative AI is and how different AI Gen models serve different purposes, how might these tools benefit us?

Enhanced creativity

Generative AI can really help artists, writers, and designers create new content by offering up inspiration, automating those boring, repetitive tasks, and generating drafts that creatives can then build upon. When you no longer have to busy yourself with those mundane tasks, you’re freed up to spend more time on the creative.

When you use Artlist our tools are designed for exactly this – making your job easier, providing inspiration and enhancing your creativity. For example, our video templates can save you hours and hours of work. Rather than creating transitions or titles from scratch, just download and plug in your favorite template from the Artlist catalog.

Polaroid Frames Transitions template by DreamVisuals

Fired Up Titles by Sliced Bread

Time and cost savings

By automating content creation (for example, writing and image generation), you can reduce the resources required for manual work, speeding up workflows in various industries. Tools like Artlist’s AI video generator streamline the visual creation process—from concepting to production — helping you move faster without sacrificing quality.

Personalization

Gen AI enables you to create highly customized experiences at a much faster rate. You can gather and analyze large amounts of data quickly, then create tailored marketing campaigns, personalized learning materials, or individual health recommendations.

Innovation boost

Generative AI can prototype new designs, test ideas, or even simulate real-world scenarios, fostering innovation in fields like product development, architecture, and science. This has already been in use for many years and will continue to hold more and more sway. With Artlist artboards, you can experiment and curate, bringing together new ideas in one simple, easy-to-use design.

Accessibility

Generative AI Models can make complex tasks, like creating professional artwork or writing code, accessible to non-experts, lowering the barriers to entry for creative and technical fields.

Improved productivity

AI helps businesses and individuals handle routine tasks (for example, drafting emails, summarizing reports) much more efficiently, which then frees up time for more strategic, engaging and creative activities.

Entertainment and engagement

From generating immersive video game environments to creating interactive storytelling, generative AI tools can be utilized to create and enhance user engagement and entertainment experiences.

Support for education and learning

Generative AI can be used for education purposes too. Teachers, tutors, and professors can all create customized learning content, interactive simulations, or even virtual tutors, which improves the learning experience for students of all ages.

The challenges with using generative AI

Of course, for every benefit that generative AI has to offer, there are also limitations to be mindful of. As the technology evolves at breakneck speed, many innovators and pioneers have called for more regulation and awareness of these challenges.

Bias and inaccuracy

Generative AI has been known to produce biased or factually incorrect content if trained on flawed or incomplete data, potentially spreading misinformation or reinforcing stereotypes. Creators can and should fact-check, and approach AI-generated content critically.

Ethical concerns

AI-generated content can easily blur the line between human and machine creation, raising questions about authorship, intellectual property, and authenticity.

Misuse for malicious purposes

Generative AI can also be exploited to create deepfakes, fake news, or harmful propaganda, potentially damaging reputations and spreading false information at a rapid pace.

Job displacement

Automation of creative and technical tasks may well lead to job losses in industries like writing, design, and customer service, drastically impacting livelihoods. This change is already underway. Focus on upskilling in areas AI cannot replicate, such as storytelling, direction, and emotional engagement. Use AI as a tool to enhance your work, not replace human creativity.

Quality control issues

While AI can generate content so quickly, it often requires human oversight to ensure accuracy, relevance, and appropriateness, especially in critical fields like healthcare or law. Always review and fine-tune AI-generated video elements, ensuring they meet your creative vision and professional standards.

Dependence on data

Generative AI relies on large datasets, which may include privacy-sensitive or proprietary information, posing risks to data security and user privacy. You can imagine how messy this can get.

High computational costs

It’s also worth bearing in mind that training and running generative AI models require significant computational power and energy, which can be expensive (reflected in the price you may pay for access to such tools) and have a large carbon footprint.

Lack of human intuition

AI still lacks true understanding and emotional intelligence, which limits its ability to create deeply meaningful or context-sensitive content in areas like art or counseling. Can it ever reach the point of human intuition? That remains an unanswered question.

How generative AI is changing content creation

Despite the challenges, generative AI is changing the way we create for the better. Video creators and filmmakers can responsibly use AI to streamline workflows while maintaining authenticity, creativity, and quality in projects. Here are a few main ways you may utilize AI in your own creations:

AI voiceover tools generate realistic speech from written text, making it easier to create audiobooks, video narrations, or virtual assistants. For example, Artlist Voiceover can provide lifelike voiceovers with various tones and accents.

AI video generators transform text descriptions into videos, streamlining the creation of animations, explainer videos, or promotional content. Tools like Runway ML generate dynamic videos directly from text prompts, while Pictory specializes in turning scripts or blog posts into engaging visual presentations, saving lots of time for creators.

In photography and digital art, AI can produce stunning images and artwork from text prompts, ideal for advertising, digital storytelling, or concept design. For instance, DALL·E 2 creates highly detailed and diverse images based on user descriptions, and Stable Diffusion offers photorealistic visuals and creative artwork for various applications.

For music, AI tools can compose original songs, generate instrumentals, or emulate specific genres and moods. Amper Music is widely used to produce custom music for videos and games, while MusicLM generates tracks based on text prompts, allowing users to describe the desired genre, mood, or style of the piece.

How creators can benefit from Artlist’s AI tools

As a creator, having the right tools to support your creative vision is essential, and AI is playing an increasingly crucial role in making your content come to life. Artlist is focused on providing you with AI-tools designed to enhance your workflow, making it easier to focus on what matters most — your creative process.

Take for example, Artlist’s AI voiceover suite, where you can turn your text into speech in a mouse click. Whether you’re crafting a captivating documentary, a dynamic YouTube vlog or a high-energy commercial, Artlist’s AI voiceover will help you engage your audience with story-driven content that hits all the right notes. Arlist’s AI voiceover is designed to fit seamlessly into your creative workflow, with a real focus on quality.

There’s also our new AI image search tool. Searching for footage can be one of the most time-consuming and frustrating parts of any creative video project. And for creators trying to earn a living from their content — time equals money. Our new AI-powered footage search helps you find the footage you’re looking for faster than ever before. 

The new search’s semantic capabilities are more advanced than traditional keyword-matching search. The AI technology extracts images from footage and converts them into a language model, along with lexical tagging. This means you’ll see results based on the search cues you enter and contextual information that the language system has learned over time. 

This same concept applies to Artlist’s AI music search, too. Designed to make it easier and faster for you to find exactly the right music for your video, the music search tools now enable you to use references (for example names of movies or musicians), look for music by subject theme, enter longer, descriptive sentences and ignore simple spelling mistakes or typos.

Meanwhile, we’ve utilized AI to give you a footage and SFX combination unlike any other. When you select a clip, you’ll now see recommendations for sound effects that will help you add that extra dimension to your video. So you can get that inspiration, or find the sound effect you need, all in one workflow.

AI is the future

When you look at the Artlist 2025 trend report takeaways, the message is clear. AI is here to stay, and as content creators we can all benefit from embracing it. 

It’s important to remember that AI is a powerful tool that should be in service of our creativity, not in replacement of it. When you feel inspired and start creating, it’s up to you which tools you use to express that creativity and how you go about doing it. With Artlist AI features, you now have another very powerful set of tools to help improve your videos, taking them to new heights.

Whether you’re designing, directing, or just experimenting with new ideas, Artlist’s AI image & video generator makes it easy to create professional, high-quality visuals in seconds. Try it now and see what you can create.

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About the author

Josh Edwards is an accomplished filmmaker, industry writing veteran, storyteller based in Indonesia (by way of the UK), and industry writer in the Blade Ronner Media Writing Collective. He's passionate about travel and documents adventures and stories through his films.
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