Creative software 2.0

November 2023

I’m calling it. Creative software is dead. It’s the end of an era.

Creative software 1.0 was about separating specific tasks into domains. Vector graphics, NLE, motion graphics, image editing, 3D, audio editing, compositing, etc. are highly specialized fields.

Fields that when combined correctly, can bring a great idea to life. In 1.0, you were pushing pixels, drawing squares on a screen, moving tracks in a timeline, and recreating how light bounces on surfaces to predict a beam's reflection.

It was brute force creativity. There is a name for each of those disciplines, and you are limited by the knowledge and experience of mastering a tool.

In Creative Software 2.0, machines push the pixels. Machines draw. We direct. We create with machines that can create anything. Constraints come from a lack of imagination, not from a lack of specialized knowledge. The most successful creators will be the most imaginative.

2.0 is about executing great ideas with models that understand the world. Models are responsible for simulating the world, generating what we ask for. We are curators. We are all directors.

A generation of software is dead. It's the end of an era but the beginning of a much more exciting one.