GenAI is a tooland like any tool, its more useful for some creative jobs than others. gettyOne of the more remarkable traits of generative AI is its ability to produce creative work, whether its text, images or video. This capability has spurred businesses to experiment with the technology to produce anything from marketing copy to advertising mood boards. Generative AIs uptake among marketing departments has been swiftin a recent survey of nearly 600 chief marketing managers by Everest Group, more than half of respondents said content creation was the most frequent use of AI.Little wonder: For some kinds of creative tasks, AI can produce in minutes what a team of creatives could take days or weeks to produce.But thats not the end of the story. While businesses would do well to get started with trying out generative AI in some of their creative workflows, theres a lot they need to understand about its best role.In my own experience with using GenAI for creative work, it can be very useful in moving you more quickly through the sometimes painful, onerous and time-consuming stages of the creative processgenerating a first draftto the part most of us actually enjoy: injecting the material with human artistry, punching up the emotional impact, or aligning it with the brand message or target audience.The magic isnt in the quality of the first draft itself but in the speed of generating something to react to. No longer, for instance, do advertising teams need to spend days or weeks working through the first ideas for a creative brief for a new campaign. And in seconds, creative professionals can translate their visual, text or musical ideas into a tangible format instead of the days it would require using conventional digital design tools. This allows them to share their ideas more quickly and effectively, get feedback, and fine-tune the output.How to optimize AI in the creative processOf course, GenAI is a tooland like any tool, its more useful for some creative jobs than others. Its not an all-or-nothing approach. Businesses may also meet with some resistance from their creative staffs, and they need to be prepared to clearly communicate what generative AI should, and should not, be used for. There are some areas where human creativity is the only answer.Other key issues businesses will need to address when integrating GenAI as a creative sparring partner include:Providing training, education and safe experimentation opportunities for creative staff.Understanding where human oversight is neededAddressing potential legal concerns regarding data ownershipFortifying data management and security processesWorking closely with business, technology, and creative managers to make the best GenAI decisionsOur recently published article, The future of creative work is a partnership with AI, provides input on these important topics and more. Managers of creative staffs will learn how to go beyond skepticism or fear about generative AI to understanding how AI can, in certain cases, help produce higher quality creative work more quickly and less expensively.In so doing, businesses will be moving their creative staffs to the next era, in which GenAI can play an integral role in the creative process.