Creative work no longer ends with AI, it starts with it. An AI-first mindset unlocks faster ideas, cheaper experiments, and a new kind of collaboration between human creativity and machine intelligence.
Manmohan Sharma*, Principal Product Manager of Tech at Amazon, sees it firsthand. "AI is already disrupting a lot of companies," he says, and making it work means rethinking how work starts in the first place.
Flip the script: "Instead of thinking about AI as a tool, if you have an AI-first mindset, you can actually create workflows that start with AI rather than having it as an afterthought," says Sharma. While many still use AI for finishing touches, he flips the process. "I do it the other way around. I start with AI and then build on top of it." The edge now belongs to those who build with AI from the start.
No designer? No problem: "I can give prompts to ChatGPT and have it create a mock-up that gives me really good ideas," explains Sharma. What once took an hour for a non-designer can be done in ten minutes—a clear sign of how AI enables faster iteration and easier creative exploration. "Before Canva, it was Adobe. That was hard to use. Canva made things easier, and I think ChatGPT has made it ten times easier than that," he adds.
That kind of speed lowers the cost of trying things—mockups, ideas, variations—all with minimal risk. Sharma sees this shift not just in design, but across industries where experimentation is now faster, cheaper, and more accessible than ever. "It doesn't cost to experiment anymore," he says.
Human-AI hybrid: Looking forward, Sharma pictures a hybrid model where human intellect and AI capabilities merge. "We humans still add value to AI because AI is still an input-output system," he asserts. Unique human experiences, he argues, are indispensable: "Every person has a different personality based on their experiences, what they've gone through, where they live," says Sharma. "Everybody can bring their unique experience to AI and merge those two to create something new."
Expertise and evaluation: In this hybrid future, "subject matter expertise will still continue to play a very important role in the future of work." As AI makes generating outputs commonplace, human discernment becomes even more valuable. "Your evaluation and analysis will become much more important," Sharma explains. "Getting output is a commodity. Are you picking the right one for the right job? That's the skill that will be required."
Promises and perils: AI in creative work opens new doors, but not without risk. "It’s exciting as well as dangerous territory that we are entering into," Sharma says. His advice for the future? "The next generation has to be very careful that they continue to acquire subject matter expertise skills so they can always be one step ahead of AI."
●●●*Manmohan Sharma's opinions expressed in this article are solely his own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Amazon.