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As AI’s 'Entertainment Era' Fades, Storytelling Emerges as the True Measure of Creative Value

Credit: Outlever

Key Points

  • AI creative tools have made it possible for anyone to produce high-quality media, but most current output focuses on short-lived entertainment.
  • Roger Rangel, Founder of AI Weekends, explains that while this shift empowers creators, it also challenges those rooted in traditional crafts.
  • He predicts that as the novelty fades, authenticity and storytelling will outlast the spectacle, urging creators to pair experimentation with a programmer’s mindset.
Roger Rangel - Founder | AI Weekends
Right now, most AI creations exist to entertain. To get likes, followers, and quick reactions. But that novelty won't last forever. When anyone can make a flashy VFX clip or an AI-generated scene, it starts to lose meaning. What will endure from all this noise is authenticity, purpose, and good storytelling, because that's the part of creativity AI can never fake.Roger Rangel - Founder | AI Weekends

AI’s entertainment era is running out of tricks. The internet has had its fun with viral mashups, talking dogs, and endless remakes of familiar styles. But the real story is not about what AI can mimic, it is about what creators choose to make with it next. The spotlight is shifting from spectacle to storytelling, from quick laughs to lasting meaning, and the artists who lean into that shift are the ones rewriting what creativity looks like.

Our guide through this new creative environment is Roger Rangel, a Generative AI Expert, Software Engineer, and Founder of the AI education platform AI Weekends. His work spans from building decentralized art platforms to studying AI’s global and cultural impact, giving him a front-row seat to the technology’s creative potential. As both a builder and a strategist, he brings a rare clarity for seeing past the buzz and spotting the real opportunity.

"Right now, most AI creations exist to entertain. To get likes, followers, and quick reactions. But that novelty won't last forever. When anyone can make a flashy VFX clip or an AI-generated scene, it starts to lose meaning. What will endure from all this noise is authenticity, purpose, and good storytelling, because that's the part of creativity AI can never fake," Rangel says.

For now, much of AI-generated media exists for amusement. From viral clips like the "Dog Olympics" to Ghibli-style recreations and meme-driven visuals, most creations chase attention rather than meaning. Rangel sees this as a temporary phase that will fade as audiences tire of the slop and begin craving substance.

  • Flipping the script: It's nothing short of a creative revolution. The gates are open, and anyone with curiosity and a computer can now rival the work of entire studios. The balance of power has shifted from boardrooms to bedrooms, from production houses to personal projects. "For the whole twentieth century, big production companies had a monopoly on storytelling. They decided which stories could be told and which could not. Now that power has flipped. It has been democratized, and anybody can create anything," Rangel explains.

  • Ride the AI wave: But there’s a catch. The same technology that opens doors can also pull the rug out from under those who built their careers the traditional way. For creators who spent years perfecting a single craft, AI can feel less like an opportunity and more like an ambush. "A lot of artists who spent years mastering one tool are going to suffer; they feel like they are being replaced. But if they can get inside the AI wave, they’re actually going to be on top," he says.

    Roger Rangel - Founder | AI Weekends
    The tools will keep improving, and the technology will only get smarter. But I don't believe AI will ever replace the experience of a human who has lived through heartbreak, conflict, or loss. Those emotions shape how we see the world, and that depth cannot be coded. The human story will always have layers that no algorithm can fully understand.Roger Rangel - Founder | AI Weekends

    Beyond the risk of leaning too heavily on the technology, Rangel points to a deeper problem behind the flood of content: the constant battle for attention waged by tech giants. In a world cluttered with noise, he believes authenticity has become a creator’s sharpest advantage. Real, human storytelling is what cuts through the scroll and makes people stop and feel something.

  • What AI can't replicate: "The tools will keep improving, and the technology will only get smarter. But I don't believe AI will ever replace the experience of a human who has lived through heartbreak, conflict, or loss. Those emotions shape how we see the world, and that depth cannot be coded. The human story will always have layers that no algorithm can fully understand."

So how can creators thrive? Rangel offers his own work as a concrete framework. He now operates as a one-man studio, combining traditional tools like DaVinci Resolve and Photoshop with AI plugins and both open and closed-source models like Midjourney. He attributes this newfound efficiency to a dedicated process of trial and error.

  • The one-man studio: "I go from concept ideation to storyboarding, character and music design, animation, and the final voiceover. I do everything myself now. What once took weeks can be done in hours, but it takes constant experimentation and a lot of patience to get it right," Rangel says.

Out of this creative chaos, Rangel imagines a future where film, music, and code fuse into something entirely new. The next wave of storytellers, he believes, will not just use AI but think like engineers and experimenters, turning curiosity into craft.

"You need a programmer mindset. Creativity today is about experimentation and structure working together. When you learn the basics of programming, you learn how to think in systems. That’s what keeps you moving forward, no matter how fast the tools change," he concludes