Entertain AI Summit: A Reality Check for Creators

The Entertain AI Summit, Quebec’s big gathering for creativity and artificial intelligence, took place on February 26 and 27 at the Palais des congrès. This second edition was a real reality check for creators.

Here’s my personal recap.

First off, this wasn’t a conference for technologists, nor a meetup for purist artists. It was a room full of professionals, and the discussions covered the creative side just as much as the business side.

One striking observation: even the biggest experts think it’s moving too fast. So if they feel lost, you don’t need to worry either. Every week, a new game changer shows up. This is the start of a new era. You need to find your place, and fast.

Where does the human fit into all this?

The question of humanity and art was at the heart of the discussions.

An analogy that stuck with me: art is a Polaroid of its time. It captures a vision, but it also leaves traces behind.

Today, our Polaroid is AI.

AI also works like a mirror. It reflects who we are, amplifies our biases, our obsessions, our ways of thinking. Those overly perfect faces it generates? AI isn’t the problem — the human references it ingests are.

Reality check: here’s what’s coming for artists

• Some artists will lose their jobs (but not all of them — keep reading).
• It will be hard.
• AI will take up all the space.
• Nothing is guaranteed, everything can change tomorrow.
• Young “AI natives” are entering the workforce, ready and without our hesitations.
• Creators have to adapt. This isn’t an ending, it’s a transformation.

The good news (because there is some)

Demand for creativity isn’t dropping. It’s exploding. If you’re not the one meeting it, someone else will. What is dropping is the public’s tolerance for bad creations.

The timeline between an idea and its production has never been shorter. “One-man army” creators and micro-teams armed with AI are already grabbing big chunks of the market. There’s no competing with them on pure production. They’re faster, more efficient.

As Sabaa Quao, President of PlusCo Venture Studio, put it, we’re in a period of World Building. The rules are changing. The old frameworks no longer hold. We need to create differently.

Bottom line: are you creative? Prove it. Nobody owes you anything.

The Da Vinci parallel

Small aside here.

When people think of history’s greatest artists, Da Vinci is always the first name mentioned.

Yet he only completed about a dozen major works (compared to 900 for Van Gogh, and over 100,000 drawings for Picasso).

His strength? He was a researcher, an explorer, a documentarian of his time.

He’s estimated to have written 13,000 pages of notes.

Great creators are prolific and explorers in their own way.

Artists who are already practicing with AI won’t lose their jobs. They’re too busy inventing tomorrow’s art. Neither will those who document their work.

Because being an artist today isn’t just about producing anymore. It’s also about exploring, testing, searching, documenting.

And maybe that’s the real definition of creativity we need to reinvent.

AI isn’t optional, it’s a required step

This summit proved it: AI isn’t optional, it’s a required step.

There will be those who adopt it as a tool, an extension of their creativity. And there will be those who cling to old methods, hoping the world won’t change too fast.

Guess who’s going to win?

We’re entering the era of augmented creators. AI won’t replace creativity. It won’t make you an artist. It will simply amplify who you already are.

Those who understand this shift will have a head start. The others will see their place disappear, not because of the technology, but because they refused to evolve alongside it.

History has shown us that those who experiment and document end up defining the rules of the game.

So, in this new era, are you going to create the future or wait for it?