There is a lot of discussion lately about AI in design, procurement, and production of print and packaging, in light of the trillions of dollars spent on building AI support infrastructures. According to the most recent Gartner study, The State of AI in 2026, “Use of AI is deepening as organizations move beyond experimentation, with large enterprises leading the way.” However, custom manufacturing has its own set of challenges, and while the decision to use AI in print and packaging is becoming more common, what we are finding is that there is a huge gap between the theory and the reality of what can be done. Welcome to the Wild West.
The use of generative AI in editorial and design has become an “almost” acceptable alternative to human-based creation in some cases. Today, primarily through the use of ChatGPT and embedded tools within text editors and design applications, it can be used for compiling content and creating graphics. There is still a need for human initiation and description using prompts, but the final outcome is based on an analysis of available learned materials. The question becomes, what’s human-created and what is AI-created or -enhanced. For many, it is fairly easy to identify the AI content and graphic creations. As the algorithms continue to improve, the quality of the generated materials is improving. While personal experiences along with those of others have found that there is a cookie cutter fingerprint to much of what is created and not necessarily creative, there are also potential legal implications.
Content ownership law is becoming fairly settled around the globe. AI-generated content has no copyright owner in the US, confirming that copyright requires human authorship. Content generated autonomously by a machine, with no “meaningful” creative human input, falls into the public domain and cannot be owned by the AI developer, the tool, or the person who wrote the prompt. When using this AI generated content in a print and packaging supply chain, there could be some liability in producing and disseminating it. However, claiming and enforcement could be tricky at this early stage.
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About David Zwang
David Zwang travels around the globe helping companies increase their productivity, margins and market reach. He specializes in production optimization, strategic business planning, market analysis, and related services to companies in the vertical media communications market. Clients have included printers, manufacturers, retailers, publishers, premedia and US Government agencies. He can be reached at [email protected].
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