Springboards ad warns AI may narrow creative choices

Springboards has released a new advertisement that examines how large-scale generative AI models can produce finished-looking creative work at speed while raising risks around copyright and originality.

The piece, titled "The Dangers of AI", uses an experiment format. Springboards said it took inspiration from an existing advertisement and used generative models to create a new one. The company said the process showed how quickly the systems could move into infringement risk and how often outputs converged on similar creative solutions.

Experiment format

Springboards positions the work as a demonstration of how generative models behave when applied to advertising tasks. The company said the exercise highlighted the tension agencies face when they use tools that generate copy and visuals rapidly.

"We're very aware of the irony here. We're dramatising the problem of large models sending everyone to the same place by deliberately using a technique that exposes how easily they drift into infringement. But sometimes the only way to show the danger is to step into it. This work is about making those risks visible, not pretending they don't exist," said Pip Bingemann, CEO And Co-Founder, Springboards.

The company said the models can output advertising work that appears complete within minutes. It also said the same systems can replicate distinctive likenesses and move into copyright-sensitive territory. Springboards said it saw outputs collapse into familiar patterns, even when prompts aimed for different directions.

Agency concerns

Generative AI has become a mainstream topic in agency operations and brand marketing teams, as organisations look at automation for concepting, copywriting, image generation and versioning. The Springboards work focuses on a narrower question. It asks what happens to creative differentiation when teams rely on general-purpose models for early-stage ideation and execution.

Springboards said the experiment underlined a gap between what generic large language driven models can generate and what agencies require in practice. The company pointed to originality, safety and variation as pressure points in day-to-day creative development. It said speed alone did not address those requirements.

Product positioning

Springboards was founded by Pip Bingemann, Amy Tucker and Kieran Browne. The company said more than 200 agencies and companies worldwide use its tool. It markets Springboards as a product for creative teams working in advertising.

The company said it designed Springboards around creative thinking workflows rather than general-purpose generation. It said teams still need judgement and craft in the process. It also said organisations need clearer guardrails when they handle material that may resemble existing work.

"This experiment really showed the dual reality. The models are powerful, but they narrow creative possibilities as much as they expand them. Creativity needs tools built for the craft, not systems that smooth every idea into the same outcome," said Amy Tucker.

Tucker also set out how the company frames its product's role in the creative process.

"That's why at Springboards, we aim to be an enabler, not the final answer. Springboards gives teams the variation and space they need to unlock new creative directions while keeping the taste, judgement and originality human," said Tucker.

Credits listed

Springboards listed internal and external contributors to the advertisement. It credited its inhouse team for strategy and concept development. It named Springboards.ai as the creative inspiration tool used on the project.

It credited Vinne Schifferstein and Marie-Celine Merret for production and delivery. It also credited Bob Connelly as AI Artist, and Jaron Ransley for sound design and voiceover.

Springboards said it plans further experiment-led work that examines how generative systems shape creative outcomes in advertising.