Virtually every existing criticism of AI as a whole also applies to the technology’s potential uses in type. Since AI can only regurgitate and remix ideas based on its training data, it can’t create anything new, unique, or exciting. It lacks vision, audacity, and heart.

But as any student of type history knows, our industry has undergone multiple wholesale shifts in how type is made and put to print. Entire printing models have risen to and fallen from prominence in the past century alone, speedwalking us to our current digital era and the unprecedented abundance of typefaces available to designers and brands. We are no stranger to disruption and rapid evolution. But this moment is different. AI is not a faster printing press. It’s not a floppy disk replacing boxes of lead type. AI has the potential to learn the craft — adequately, if not masterfully or soulfully. Surely some revelation is at hand. And so, we sit at this fork in the road, one direction seemingly meandering toward an unsettling precipice and the other twisting and turning toward an uncertain partnership.

As we explored this topic for Re:Vision, we thought a lot about the responsibility Monotype must assume as AI matures. We are caretakers of more font IP than probably any other company in the world. In AI terms, that’s “training data.” And so we put to print that we are dedicated to protecting the humanity of high-​quality type. Whether the work is done by our team or others in the industry, we believe human beings should remain central to typographic ideation. We’ve also open-​sourced technology to support font files in the Content Authenticity Initiative’s C2PA coalition, which aims to establish and promote standards for verifying and trusting online content.

That’s all well and good but it will take more than pledges and isolated acts to influence this truly global phenomenon. Someone has to grab the wheel.