Erich Giordano's Interview for ekip's Magazine on Future Jobs

The relationship between art and technology has always been uneasy. When photography arrived, painters feared obsolescence. When computers entered the studio, designers braced for disruption. Today, AI is forcing the same reckoning, but this time, the speed of change and the impacted jobs are vastly different.

Identity Outlasts Any AI Tool

About a hundred years ago, art was something handmade and singular. Copies existed, but they were never the original. Then came photography, printing, and reproduction at scale and eventually, digital design. Now, generative AI has accelerated the process to the point where a single prompt can produce a convincing image in seconds.

"A couple of years ago we saw the first really popular version of DALL-E. With just a simple prompt, you could create an image. Now, after only a couple of years, people can already start to recognize what's AI-made," says Erich Giordano.

The implication is significant: AI fluency has a shelf life. What doesn't expire is creative vision.

"You can still create something meaningful even if you're not using the very latest version of a tool, because ultimately, it's the idea and the concept behind your expression that matter. The tool is secondary to the artist's vision. You can't lose your signature style or your identity — you have to stay true to yourself. You don't just hand that over to the technology."

For AI artists specifically, Giordano sees the frontier shifting toward experience design. "For AI artists in general, the evolution is moving more and more towards creating experiences for an audience, first and foremost. This is something quite unique because you're there, witnessing or even becoming part of something happening right in front of you. But it's also a space where the artist can prove their presence by creating something in real time — something that can only happen in a specific place if the audience is there to witness it."

The Rise of the Creative Coder

One of the most in-demand profiles emerging from this shift is the creative coder — someone who blends technical ability with artistic instinct. Historically, IT work and creativity occupied separate worlds. AI has collapsed that boundary.

"IT work has traditionally been seen as something far removed from creativity. With AI, though, the potential for creative expression is vastly expanded. You're no longer just coding — you're instructing an AI system," says Giordano.

Creative coders today work at the intersection of generative design systems, machine learning, and visual storytelling. They don't just build tools; they author experiences. The hybrid nature of the role — part engineer, part artist — makes it difficult to train for through any single traditional path, and that scarcity is exactly what makes it valuable.

ESG Specialist: Purpose That Pays

Beyond the creative disciplines, another emerging role is gaining ground: the ESG Specialist. As consumers and investors increasingly scrutinize companies' environmental, social, and governance commitments, the demand for professionals who can navigate these dimensions has grown sharply.

But the role is far from uniform. "Depending on the company, the role of ESG can vary. But ESG has definitely evolved into a formal function within many organizations," says Giordano. "It's not just about sustainability in a broad sense — there's a practical and technical aspect to it." The role spans law, environmental science, and technology, making interdisciplinary fluency essential.

The cultural fit matters just as much as the technical skills. "Being an ESG Specialist can be a really fulfilling job if you're in a company that truly embraces and lives by its ESG goals. If you're in a company that only does it because they have to, it could be a nightmare."

The Emerging Design Technologist

Design technologists represent a fourth emerging profile — professionals who operate in the space between product and service, between creativity and functionality. Where designers once focused on material concerns, design technologists now work with AI, VR, and 3D modelling as standard tools.

"Where once we distinguished between material concerns for products and user experience for services, design technologists now operate in a space where these boundaries are fading," says Giordano. "The fusion of these skills — adaptability, creativity, and collaboration — defines the modern designer's toolkit."

Networking & Differentiation

Across all four emerging roles, one thing remains non-negotiable: the ability to build and maintain a professional network. In a landscape where standing out is harder than ever, visibility has become a skill in itself.

"Starting from scratch and creating a network is a completely different challenge. Yet standing out is increasingly difficult," says Giordano. "For creative minds, this can be difficult. Creatives need to say something different from the mainstream, otherwise their voice blends into what everyone else is saying."

Nextatlas and ekip: Mapping the Future of Work

These observations are grounded in data. Nextatlas — founded in 2012 in Turin, Italy by brothers Luca and Alessio Morena — is the world's first independent AI-driven trend forecasting platform, tracking what early adopters care about before those signals reach the mainstream. As a partner of ekip, Nextatlas has been working at the intersection of cultural intelligence and the future of work, helping organizations understand not just where industries are headed, but what kinds of people will lead them there.

The Future Jobs research distills this into actionable insight: the professionals who will define the next decade of creative and cultural work are those who can hold complexity — technical and human, individual and systemic — without resolving it prematurely.

Trend lines, data, and information described in this article emerge from the ongoing analysis performed by Nextatlas on its global observation pool made of innovators, early adopters, industry insiders expressing their views on Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit.

To learn more about our AI, discover Nextatlas Methodology here