In 2025 Inky Thinking I wrote a set of eight blog posts about the value that human illustrators bring to creative projects over AI. It was great fun writing these and all of the messages remain current and important to human creatives.

Since writing these blogs my insights around AI and its role in illustration have been supplemented by three recent experiences, which I’d love to share with you in the form of key learnings.

Learning 1: AI augmenting the creative process

Earlier this year we undertook a project with a global client to create a highly detailed graphic visualising a patient’s experience in a specific care pathway. Early in the project it was clear that our client was highly adept at using AI and found it helpful as a means of communicating what she needed from us, even though they were obviously created artificially and lacked the warmth and authenticity that an illustrator could bring to what is an emotional and sensitive subject.

Despite these limitations the AI generated images certainly helped us to understand the client’s need in a detail that we might otherwise not have had. Furthermore, the client explained herself that she was not a confident visual thinker and so creating images with AI was a way of helping her communicate her needs.

In this example AI has augmented the process of visualisation, primarily by enabling the client to express what they were seeking at a fundamental level. AI has not substituted itself for the illustration component but acted as a useful supporting mechanism.

Learning 2: AI and illustration co-existing as capabilities

Inky Thinking was commissioned to support an AI business with bespoke illustration in support of their leadership event. This is a fascinating micro case study in the coexistence of human illustration within an environment that one might think would be fully committed to using AI for this purpose.

What’s apparent here is the client’s understanding of the value that illustration, as a distinct capability, brings as it supplements a dialogue within an AI focused environment. In this case the client has made a deliberate choice to introduce “human” illustration into their overall events experience, demonstrating that AI and illustration can co-exist and add value together.

Learning 3: One might think it’s AI, but it isn’t

In a recent project, a senior leader believed that the digital illustrations being swiftly created live on screen behind them were AI generated, to the point where they made a bet with colleagues that they were created by AI. At the end of the event he was introduced to our illustrator at the back of the conference room to demonstrate that it was a human illustrator responsible for the creation of the images rather than AI. He subsequently lost his bet.

This example may demonstrate that people who are genuinely invested in and confident in AI’s capabilities, to such a degree that they attribute characteristics such speed and accuracy to AI’s ability, believe that AI is capable of more than it actually is.

As a profession, our role as illustrators is not only to provide high quality assets to our clients, but also to signpost the process of creating these outputs so our clients understand the effort that goes into generating them. Without showing our “working out” there is a risk that some clients will believe AI is responsible for the work.

As AI evolves there will be more examples like these which enable us to understand the implications of AI upon our clients and our work as illustrators. The focus must be to continue seeking out examples like these and learning from them, which will in turn help us 1) to better educate our clients on the value that illustration is capable of delivering and 2) strengthen our personal and business capabilities.