Creatives are doing more with AI

Contra Labs says taste, perspective, judgment and direction "became more valuable" with AI. I agree with that. I just don't think a survey can show it, and the line is old anyway.

The Creative Intelligence 2026 report says it surveyed 150k+ creatives, combined with Contra's marketplace data: AI adoption over 70%, project sizes for "AI-powered" creatives up over 40%, and AI adopters earning more.

That might be BS:

• There is no definition of "AI-powered".
• Contra runs a talent marketplace, and its benchmark page pitches creatives' judgment as human data to train models, with a section for AI labs. "Creatives thrive with AI" is a nice story for both.
• "Doing more" is also self-reported, and "I feel productive" is the weakest evidence there is.

It might be true, too. But creatives might also be doing a lot of stuff that shouldn't be done.