WHEN EVERYONE CAN CREATE

8th December 2025

We are living through a major shift in what it means for a person to create. AI has shortened the distance between an idea and the moment it becomes real. A thought can now take shape almost instantly. Something private can become something visible enough to explore, refine or share.

What moves me is not the technology itself. It is what this unlocks for people who were never seen by traditional systems. For so long creativity and opportunity depended on circumstance, where you were born, who encouraged you, which doors opened and which remained invisible. We acted as though potential was fixed, as though some people were inherently “better” and others simply were not. But the difference was rarely talent. It was access.

Now that boundary is beginning to soften. People who were never encouraged to create are realising that the ideas they once kept to themselves can now take form in the world. People once dismissed as not creative are discovering they can turn feelings and fragments of ideas into visible, tangible beginnings. It turns out the world was full of ability long before the tools arrived.

And none of this means AI suddenly does the work for anyone. It does not. Tools can open a door but they cannot walk someone through it. Curiosity, discipline and above all else taste still matter. The people who thrive in this new era will not be the ones waiting for machines to replace effort but the ones who use these systems as extensions of their own imagination. AI does not create meaning. It only expands the ways humans can express it.

You can already see this shift in places untouched by AI. Even a TikTok dance recorded in a hallway can reveal it. At first it looks trivial, easy to dismiss as frivolous or as cultural decline but I think it’s a sign that something else is happening underneath. These small acts show a willingness to move from observation into expression. A moment when someone chooses to make rather than only watch. A signal that people want to contribute to culture rather than stand outside it.

Creation and consumption have always been linked. Most acts of creativity begin with something absorbed, something that resonates long enough to spark a response. The harm comes not from consumption itself but from being unable to move beyond it. When someone shifts from absorbing to shaping, their sense of agency expands. Even the smallest act of creation restores a feeling of presence in the world.

As this new creative capacity spreads, we must also recognise its risks. The same systems that empower can influence people at vulnerable moments without their awareness. They can reinforce old inequalities under a surface that appears neutral. They can amplify insecurities or distort trust through images that feel real but are not. These possibilities require a standard of responsibility and ethics that our existing structures were not designed to uphold.

Even so, I remain deeply optimistic about where humanity is heading. Every significant tool we create shows us who we are and who we might become. It reveals the patterns we need to leave behind but it also reveals our adaptability and our instinct to express what we carry inside. If we evolve ethically alongside these tools, they will not diminish us. They will widen the range of what it means to participate in the world.

If we look at this moment honestly, we can feel both the risks and the promise within it. There is a fragility in how quickly these tools are moving and in how slowly our institutions adapt. Yet, there is also a growing clarity that humans want to use these capabilities to understand themselves better, not to hide from who they are.

When more people can speak openly about what they think and feel, understanding becomes easier. A sense of belonging follows from that. Where this leads will come down to the choices we make with the tools in front of us.

I hope the story of this era will be that more people gained the tools and confidence to turn their ideas into something real. That is why this transition matters. Not because every creation will be profound but because access and the confidence to create gives people a way to rise. And when more people rise, humanity rises with them.