Research from the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce has found that 67% of the region’s businesses are already using AI, 79% say it has increased their productivity, and 69% say it has improved their profitability.
This provides a positive picture for the region, highlighting that West Midlands businesses are actively embracing AI, which will be key to building a competitive advantage.
At the same time, there are understandable concerns that AI could replace certain roles, particularly those centred on repetitive tasks. As a marketing consultant, I am interested in how AI will influence my role in the future. Will it replace any of my skills or tasks? More recently, I have questioned whether the use of AI is making me more productive and creative. Or is AI doing my work for me and making me lazy?!
Since embedding AI into my business, I certainly feel that I am getting more creative, developing new ideas for client projects and, in turn, creating new ways to use AI to grow my business, making my life that little bit easier.
However, it seems I am currently in the minority. When considering a survey by ResearchGate, 57% of general users believe AI reduces originality and can discourage the development of creative skills, vs 27% who think it will enhance creativity.
Let’s explore my own creative adventures with AI to help understand this conundrum…
My adventure with AI
My adventure with AI didn’t get off to a good start. In 2023, I took some time out of my business to go on maternity leave. Upon returning in 2024, I discovered a whole new digital world where colleagues and competitors had embraced their AI companion. I felt lost. Whilst I had been learning about the best brand of nappies, weaning, and bonding with my son, my colleagues, peers, and competitors had learnt how to utilise AI.
Adventure #1: Learning to love AI
I would love to say it was an “if you can’t beat them, join them” kind of attitude, but in all honesty, it took me a while to warm up to using AI, asking a few questions to ChatGPT that I could have asked Google. My use of ChatGPT only really ramped up when my energy levels dipped and I needed more day-to-day support.
As a small business owner working alongside contractors, I’m often juggling a lot, and after maternity leave, I noticed my ability to focus and generate new ideas wasn’t quite where it used to be. I’m fairly certain sleep deprivation played a big part!
Jump ahead 18 months, and I have used ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Copilot to help me develop content ideas to promote my business, evaluate designs, and plan personal events. I have often used the generative AI tools against each other, asking the same queries and challenging questions to see which one produces the best results (this is something I recommend you do if you are exploring how to use AI and which one is best for you). Was it a perfect companion, churning out brilliant content in the early days? Absolutely not. It has become much better over time, both as I have learned how to use it more effectively and as the technology itself has continued to improve.
What have I learnt from this?
AI became most valuable to me during a time when I was adapting into a new normal. However, the output reflects the input – you still need to put good thinking behind it.
I’m still creative ✅
Adventure #2: Creating my own AI sidekick (Custom GPT)
Once I’d started using AI more consistently, I realised a lot of my time was being spent repeating prompts into AI. When creating content or seeking help for my own business, I was repeating who we are, what we do, what our tone is, etc.
So, I decided to try something new: building a Custom GPT tailored to my business. I trained it (basically writing a long-form prompt) with the kind of information I normally keep in my head or scattered across documents: our style of writing and our brand values.
My custom GPT has become my own mini marketing assistant, responding to my questions within the context of my business. I can ask it to help me draft a LinkedIn post. Sometimes the copy isn’t spot on, but I work with it to finalise what goes out. I have asked it about ideas to generate new clients or revenue streams and about our competitors.
What have I learnt from this?
AI isn’t just about becoming more efficient, it’s about reducing my decision fatigue. Creating a custom GPT has given me a digital sounding board, facilitating my creativity and productivity rather than hindering it.
I’m still creative, just using a robot to help make decisions ✅
Adventure #3: Designing images and branding with AI
I have become more adventurous with AI recently, starting to explore image creation. As a creative without the design skills (I can direct and project manage design, and create on Canva, which most designers detest), being able to create my own images is quite exciting!
There are now so many powerful tools available that can generate images, logos, and media in minutes, from Google’s Nano Banana to Canva’s AI Image Generator and Midjourney, to name a few.
So, having dabbled in AI image creation, do I think the tens of thousands of creative professionals in the Midlands are quaking in their boots right now?! I very much doubt it. I have found that using AI to create visuals for social media content and stock imagery has worked fairly well. But when it comes to creating new logos or promotional material, it has been a different story. Even with detailed prompts and uploaded brand guidelines, the results have never quite hit the mark, and I have returned to human-led creatives in the form of actual visual designers. I will caveat this adventure however with the fact that AI is improving at what seems to be the speed of light, so in another 12-18months AI image generation is likely to be significantly improved.
What have I learnt from this?
It is a good thing we still need designers, creative and strategic thinkers to create the big things, with AI in the background to support later down the line. However, I do think creatives need to embrace AI, as clients expectations continue to evolve alongside the advancement of AI.
I’m still creative, just better at briefing real-life human designers than AI-driven ones ✅
In Conclusion
So, we come to the end of my creative adventures with AI, here at least. I am continuing to use AI every day across my business and seeing some amazing results. I know this is the case for many of my peers in the Midlands working in marketing, creative, and design roles as AI is the hot topic both online and at networking events.
Although I love using AI, I know that in my industry real brand work, real storytelling, and authentic connection still come from human thinking. That is why as humans we will always be creative, with or without AI.
With this in mind, I would encourage fellow creatives across the Midlands to explore your own creative adventures with AI. Whether you are already using AI or simply curious, start to treat AI as another tool in the creative process rather than a replacement for it. The most exciting work in the future will not come from AI alone, but from the people who are learning how to utilise it.
In a region with such creative and entrepreneurial spirit, I have no doubt that many of those people will be right here in the heart of the UK, the Midlands.
This is a personal blog post. Any opinions, findings, and conclusion or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Centre for the New Midlands or any of our associated organisations/individuals.
ABOUT OUR AUTHOR:
Laura Dryhurst is a passionate advocate for business and economic growth in the Midlands, supporting organisations through her work as a consultant and founder.
She founded The Marketing Smith in 2020 with a clear purpose: to provide organisations with agency-level expertise that fits within their budgets. Through flexible, outsourced marketing support across the public and private sectors, Laura has worked with local councils, combined authorities and a wide range of SMEs. Most recently Laura is supporting clients to adapt their systems and processes, using AI where it genuinely makes a difference.
As Co-founder of The Business Cube, Laura connects SMEs with like-minded business owners and trusted specialists, helping them access the expertise, networks, and opportunities they need to grow sustainably.
