“Even though that’s the way we’ve always done it, there’s this little thing going, ‘Oh, you’re screwed. You’re screwed.’” 
– Trey Parker, 6 Days to Air

Matt Stone and Trey Parker have a gruelling production process. But it’s what makes South Park so topical.

The show doesn’t miss a beat because each episode is made within six days of airing. Often, the script isn’t finished until the day before. 

Some would call that absurd. The very same who preach efficiency in creative work. The very same who tout generative AI as revolutionary.

But Stone and Parker and their process are far from efficient. It’s definitely not plug-and-play. Or I should say prompt-and-pray.

No. Instead, they rely on speed and strict deadlines. They rely on creativity within constraints. And hard work.

The six-day deadline not only keeps the show relevant, it forces the team to find a way to get it done (talk about productivity). That’s why South Park is still going nearly 30 years after it first aired.

It’s why Stone and Parker are successful creators.

And it’s why you should be wary of those who say generative AI is a must in the creative industries. 

Firstly, you won’t improve your craft if you don’t put in the actual work. And you certainly won’t develop any taste—your own style.

Secondly, brain rot is real. If you hand over your creative and cognitive abilities to an uncaring, unfeeling robot, those abilities atrophy. If you don’t use it, you lose it. Literally.

In a study performed by the National Library of Medicine, users of generative AI improved their cognitive abilities when using the tool. But afterwards, when not using AI, their abilities declined. 

“This suggests that students may have relied on the tool to bypass cognitive processes essential for developing cognitive skills, which ultimately compromised their performance.”
– PubMed Central®

Another study by MIT found similar results when tasking students to write SAT essays. The sample size is small, but the findings are big enough to consider.

“ChatGPT users had the lowest brain engagement and ‘consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels.’ Over the course of several months, ChatGPT users got lazier with each subsequent essay, often resorting to copy-and-paste by the end of the study.” 
– Time Magazine

Finally, Large Language Models produce results based on pattern recognition of existing knowledge and content (art, music, movies, books) fed into the machine. Much of which is stolen and uncredited.

This means the machine spits out a mishmash of what’s already been said and done. This means the output is the average of others’ work—another word for average is mediocre.

Not to mention, it lacks soul. Because the machine doesn’t have one. More to the point, it doesn’t know what it’s like to experience the human condition. 

Robert Frost said “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No excitement in the writer, no excitement in the reader.” 

This is a reference to the energy you put into creating something. And how the person on the other end can feel it. Well, there’s no energy in a prompt. At least, not enough to feel. (It’s why AI slop gives off major uncanny valley vibes.)

This is what AI slopists don’t get. It’s what Big Tech doesn’t care about. They cloak laziness with efficiency. They disguise productivity with mindlessness.

And it works because humans, by default, crave the easy way out. 

Trey Parker hints at it when he said, “I hate writing so much because the writing part is actually so, like, lonely and sad… I know everyone is waiting for me.”

In my experience, the only time I turn to generative AI is for one of two reasons: I don’t care enough or I don’t know enough. That’s why it’s so tempting. AI gets you to done in a single click (or a couple if you fancy yourself a true ‘prompt engineer’).

But the creators of South Park don’t succumb to the pressure. Why should we?

Truth is, efficiency and creativity aren’t compatible. The latter is always sacrificed when you try to streamline the process. There’s a reason why falling in love with the process is a cliche.

Because if you don’t, eventually you stop thinking and tinkering. You stop pushing yourself and your abilities. You kill Kenny, permanently.

I don’t know about you, but I didn’t get into the creative industry to eliminate the most joyful part of my job. If I wanted a machine to do it, I would have joined an assembly line (and I guarantee that is a lot less stressful than being a copywriter). 

The reason I write, play guitar, make music, and post to my blog is because I care about the craft more than the output. These things give me life. In fact, they make life worth living—same goes for reading and discovering art.

Creating and creativity are gifts from the Gods. To hand them off is an insult to humanity. It’s an insult to yourself and those you do the work for.

Remember, enjoy the ride. The effort is the reward.

“It’s still stop motion animation. It’s someone moving Cartman over and going ‘key frame.’ It’s still just frame by frame and a bunch of really talented people looking at every piece of visual art and doing it really fast.”
– Matt Stone, 6 Days to Air

Even if that voice in your head is saying, “Oh, you’re screwed. You’re screwed.” It’s worth it. 

Because you did it.

You used your own brain and your own creativity to produce something that didn’t exist in the world until you made it. 

And that’s something to be proud of.