The creative breakpoint: How teams are navigating AI today

At Superside’s SHIFT Summit, we sat down with creative leaders from Clio, Wistia and Typeform to unpack a big question: What’s actually happening inside creative teams as AI reshapes the way we work?

Built on insights from Superside’s latest Breakpoint report, the conversation revealed a landscape full of opportunity, but also pressure, uncertainty and rapid change. Here’s what stood out.

85% of leaders say expectations have changed because of AI

AI isn’t just another tool—it’s reshaping what leadership expects from creative teams.

As Danielle Giroux, Creative Director at Clio, explained, those expectations often come without full clarity:

“We get these expectations of, hey, can we do this with AI? Can we solve this with AI… it’s just about being honest. It’s quality versus speed. Here’s the output that we’re going to get, and here’s the time we’re going to need to refine it.”

Executives are asking bigger, faster questions, but creative teams are still responsible for setting realistic boundaries. The gap between what AI can do and what it should do is where many teams are operating today.

Leaders don’t believe AI will replace creatives

Despite the hype, most leaders don’t see AI replacing creatives, they see it augmenting them. According to the Breakpoint report, only 12% of leaders believe AI will lead to full automation.

Taylor Corrado, Senior Director of Brand Marketing at Wistia, described how AI is changing the work itself:

“It’s not about generating creative work from scratch, but accelerating it. Creatives are really enhancing the work that they’re already doing using different tools and AI.”

Instead of replacement, AI is driving scale, turning one idea into many assets, faster. The role of AI isn’t to be the maker but to become a multiplier.

86% of creative teams report being over capacity

If AI is supposed to save time, why are teams more overwhelmed than ever?

Typeform embedded AI into their offering which meant they had to reposition themselves in the market. Marketing and creative now have to apply a bigger effort to communicate that, through campaigns, releases, and make a big buzz across different channels. Internally we also had to catch up with new design workflows. All of that increased our capacity and the workload a lot.

Dimitra PapastathiFormer Head of Creative, Typeform

AI isn’t just changing output, it’s forcing teams to rethink:

• Product positioning
• Campaign strategy
• Internal workflows

All at the same time.

Speed is up—but the work isn’t done

One of the clearest tensions: AI accelerates ideation, but not alignment.

Speed improves first… what it doesn’t remove is that need for human judgment and taste.

Danielle GirouxCreative Director, Clio

AI can generate:

• Ideas
• Briefs
• Mockups

But it can’t replace:

• Alignment
• Strategy
• Taste
• Channel execution

It just compresses that time for ideation. Speed is the most crucial thing that we're seeing that pressure build on and everybody wants something instantly. It’s been really tough. It’s that instant gratification and then realizing that the craft still takes time.

Danielle GirouxCreative Director, Clio

79% of leaders feel pressure to adopt AI

The pressure to adopt AI is real and rising fast.

Even if the data says 79%, Giroux noted:

“I would say in my perspective, even 95% was accurate.”

The pace of change is so fast that even recent data can feel outdated. For teams, that translates into constant urgency and often, unclear direction.

When I think about where that pressure is starting to build, it’s in trying to do things faster. Can AI do this presentation for us? Can AI create this commercial for us? It can, but at what quality do we want that to happen? Even internally, AI can get something out the door, but it’s not necessarily building better alignment. The pressure is definitely building, but it’s about how we meet that demand and being honest about its capabilities.

Danielle GirouxCreative Director, Clio

The biggest trust barrier? Quality

When it comes to AI adoption, trust is still fragile.

Designers can’t really promise that they’re going to get a great output by using AI if they can’t guarantee actual quality is going to be at a certain standard.

Dimitra PapastathiFormer Head of Creative, Typeform

But the real issue might be deeper:

“I would say quality is a big issue. Training can solve that, it’s what’s holding people back from trusting AI because they don't really know the possibilities, they don't really know their tools, and because those are evolving every week.”

In other words, quality concerns are often capability concerns. Without proper training, teams can’t fully trust—or control—AI outputs.

7 in 10 leaders report burnout

AI is a productivity boost but can be a mental burden.

It has helped with very mundane tasks that would take a long time. I'm actually able to spend a lot more time thinking creatively, working with my team and coaching them. The other side of it is learning all these new tools is such a big mental load, and not knowing where to start, and getting pressure to learn new tools from other colleagues or from your leadership.

Taylor CorradoSenior Director of Brand Marketing, Wistia

Papastathi echoed this:

“I would agree with Taylor on the fact that AI has helped us on the day-to-day tasks, with quick wins, but when it comes to creating a plan on how we're going to apply it in the long term, this is the hard part. Overall, it has added more mental overload than reducing burnout. We already have a methodology that works for us and now we are asked to reset and shift to a new one and learn how to work differently.

And Giroux highlighted the need for balance:

“At some point you have to stop absorbing… and start applying what you learned. That takes space, that takes time. I think if you're not giving yourself that time or that space intentionally, you will burn out.”

The takeaway: AI reduces task load, but increases cognitive load.

What actually needs to change?

When asked what would make AI a true creative superpower, the panel landed on one core theme: leadership mindset.

Corrado put it simply:

“If you don’t have buy-in or the ability to try and adapt to this new AI world, it’s going to be really hard to even keep up.”

Leadership mindset means all of us having that mindset… not just looking to your C team… but taking that step to design a system around how you can leverage AI.

Danielle GirouxCreative Director, Clio

And Papastathi emphasized enablement:

“Understanding the possibilities and then forming the strategy for the long term.”

So… what is the role of a creative now?

If AI can generate outputs, where does that leave creatives?

Creative success is about problem solving and how you interact with people… not just about what you make. AI really amplifies what we're able to make, but how you show up to a meeting, how you communicate an idea, how you navigate ambiguity, build alignment. That's what's going to get us to the next step.

Danielle GirouxCreative Director, Clio

Creatives need to have the ability to surprise their audience and come up with something that will break the norm and that will really get their attention.

Dimitra PapastathiFormer Head of Creative, Typeform

In the age of AI:

• Craft is accelerated
• Output is abundant
• Differentiation comes from taste, thinking and human connection

The “messy middle” of AI adoption

Speed is improving, but clarity is still catching up. AI is everywhere now, but for many teams, it hasn’t fully clicked yet. They’re moving faster, experimenting more and seeing potential—but they’re also getting stuck between ambition and execution.

Creative teams today aren’t at the beginning (or the end) of AI adoption.

They’re in the messy middle:

• Experimenting
• Scaling
• Struggling
• Learning

And figuring out, in real time, what the future of creative work actually looks like.