We sat down with Fashion Content Creator, Kiersay, to hear a bit about her personal opinion on generative AI and how it will impact the future of content marketing. 

This interview has been edited for length.

Lightricks Team: So Kiersay, let's start with a simple question. Can you tell us a little bit about who you are and your journey as a content creator?

Kiersay: Of course. My name is Kiersay and I am a colorful fashion content creator. Essentially I love all things color. I would even say that colors are my love language, so I mainly focus on the niche of colorful fashion and interiors. I've been kind of a full-time creator for about a year and a half.

Now, my journey to becoming a creator. I'd always absolutely loved fashion but I was actually a finance bro before. I studied finance at university, then worked in finance for a little bit, and transitioned to working in the startup economy. Then I transitioned into design and kind of throughout that entire time I was posting on social media. When I was back in my finance bro day it was very like black and white. That’s when my old Instagram account got hacked and I kind of had a moment of rediscovery and found out that I really love all things color. I really identify with the idea of dopamine dressing, or just dressing to make yourself feel good. I really love doing that.

From there, I had a lot of success on social media and started to go full-time as a creator. I’ve had the chance to start working with incredible companies, like you guys and some other fashion companies. At this point I realized I was absolutely obsessed with the creator economy and the world of fashion. So, I'm here. I did a full 180 in my career but now I'm loving it and it's been a great journey so far. 

Lightricks Team: Who would you say your biggest audience is? Focusing on how you create, do you have a specific style? Do you prefer photos or videos? Or is it more of a general mix of things? 

Kiersay: As for the content itself, I focused on doing a lot of fashion, personality, and interior design through photo and video content. When I started off, my true love was just pure photo content, but over the past few years I really discovered that I can be a lot more creative in video content and that's become my new love. I think right now, I kind of like the mix of both. I like video content because there's so many ways you can edit and whether it's just you talking to the camera, performing a transition trend, or doing a really innovative edit. There's a lot of ways you can connect to different audiences and communities and showcase your creativity, which has been fun to play with. 

Lightricks Team: We'll just stick to that idea of playing around and creativity because I think that gives us a great segue into our topic of conversation. So before we had this boom in AI in the past six months or so, did you have any familiarity with AI or AI editing tools?

Kiersay: Honestly, not too much. I was pretty unfamiliar with a lot of the new AI technologies. I know it’s become a lot more prevalent and kind of a buzzword in all different types of communities, but I think it's slower to enter the creative fields just because it's traditionally more associated with data and tech. 

Lightricks Team: I want to stick with the idea you mentioned about your industry. Where do you see fashion and AI meeting, or how do you see a possibility to mix between those two realms?

Kiersay:  I think there's so many different areas where fashion and AI are meeting. It's becoming a really revolutionizing tool in all areas of the fashion industry, from consumer relationships with clothing brands, to how you interact with trying things on, finding your personal style, even to the operational side of fashion. AI is basically touching all areas of the fashion pipeline, which in turn increases accessibility into the industry.

One example, which I’m really excited about, is trend forecasting. Trend forecasting has always been done in a very traditional way. Now, I think AI will completely change this, especially when looking at shorter time spans. It’ll also allow creators to have more accessibility to trend forecasting and use the same tools as designers, which would be completely new.

Another example, also dealing with accessibility, is the idea of using AI to try on clothes. This is something that right now, produces a lot of waste and heavily impacts the environment. Let’s say you see something you like online but you don’t know what size to order, so you order two and then have to send at least one of them back. With AI, you can enter your dimensions and try things on without having to ship things back and forth, which will reduce a ton of waste. Overall, I think that generative AI will really revolutionize the fashion industry in a positive way and I’m excited to see how it all plays out.

Lightricks Team: Now let's talk a little bit about you and your AI connection. Have you played around with any generative editing stuff? Have you used any AI models in your content creation process? 

Kiersay: I haven't delved into it tons yet. I have definitely integrated the use of ChatGPT into my everyday life from assisting with writing emails and pitches to even rewriting texts to friends. I’ve also used Lightricks AI Avatars and similar creative AI tools, but other than that I haven’t used too many other generative AI softwares. I’m still discovering how to use them and I think it’ll take some time to see how these types of tools really integrate into our everyday lives. 

Lightricks Team: There's been a lot of conversations online about AI generated images and how they’re perceived. In your opinion, do you think they are pieces of art or do you think that using AI to generate artwork is a bit of a shortcut? 

Kiersay: Yeah, there's so many different perspectives on this, and again, I think because it’s so new it’s the kind of thing where only time will tell, but personally, I believe that generative AI is more like a creative assistant. It doesn’t replace creativity, but instead allows more people to show off and execute their creativity. I think that the legal side of this is really interesting because of the issues over ownership of creative assets and ideas, and I can see there being lots of controversy in this space. That being said,  I believe that as generative AI progresses, we’re going to be seeing a lot of watermarks come into play. But overall, to jump back to your original question, I would say generative AI isn’t an artist itself, but rather another tool at an artist's disposal when used intentionally and effectively. 

Lightricks Team: Yeah, that makes sense. How do you think audiences will respond and interact with more AI related content? 

Kiersay: It really depends on how the creator utilizes AI tools. It could be really cool if creators can use AI to analyze what their audience is most interested in and then go from there. For example, if I see that my audience is interacting most with certain color schemes or content that’s about me personally, I’ll lean into that and tailor my upcoming content to match those interests. This allows us as creators to have a deeper connection with our audiences in terms of personalization.

On top of personalization, I think AI can also increase connectivity and community. Imagine if I can upload a couple photos of my personal style and then be shown 10 creators with a similar style that I can then connect with. That could be really cool. 

Lightricks Team: Do you think this whole AI fad is going to be something that we get used to or do you think it’ll still be something people get excited about? 

Kiersay:  I think it's something that people are going to be really excited about. It feels like we’re heading into this hyper-digital age and right now, AI and VR are buzzwords but only because they haven’t entirely been integrated into society. At the moment, this technology is still very much so for people on the frontiers, like tech leaders and innovators, who constantly keep up with the latest trends. I think it’ll be like this for a long time but I wouldn’t be surprised if the hype dies down once the tech is a bit more integrated.

But before we reach that point, generative AI still has a bunch of different industries to hit. While we’re in this stage, I think generative AI will remain an ever growing topic, which is really exciting. 

Lightricks Team: So, the final question. Are there any other technologies or AI tools you’ve seen recently that you think has the potential to change the way content is created this year? 

Kiersay: Yeah definitely. Right now, there’s this cool mix of digital and physical fashion going on that I think will allow more creators to break into the scene. There’s already a couple of companies that create completely digital fashion that can then be worn in photos and videos. Not only will this increase accessibility, but it’ll also allow people who never considered themselves ‘designers’ to take on that role. 

Lightricks Team: Well, fantastic, Kiersay. Thank you so much, we really appreciate you taking the time to chat with us. It was really insightful and was great to spend some time with you! 

Kiersay: Thank you so much, have a wonderful rest of your day!