Chris McLaughlin on GenAI and the Future of DAM
Christopher McLaughlin from generative AI services provider Vertesia has kindly contributed an article for our editorial series on ‘Will Generative AI Make DAM Obsolete?’ Chris offers an insightful exploration of how GenAI is poised to reshape the DAM landscape and convincingly argues that while DAM platforms have historically provided value, especially in industries like fashion, media, and healthcare, their reliance on manual metadata tagging has long been an Achilles heel. The article successfully highlights the inefficiencies of this process: creatives often begrudge the tedium of entering contextual metadata, and inconsistent human input can all too easily undermine the reliability of a DAM system and negatively impact the discoverability of its assets.
“Many organizations can’t afford to hire dedicated librarians to spend 40 hours a week applying metadata labels to digital objects. On top of that, it’s hard to be consistent with that type of manual, detail-oriented work. It’s inherently error-prone, and tagging often ends up being applied inconsistently across different users or even the same person on different days, weakening the overall value of DAM platforms.” [Read More]
The core argument – that GenAI can finally deliver on the original promise of DAM by automating metadata generation – is well supported. GenAI’s capacity to analyse assets at scale and apply consistent, rich metadata is presented as a game-changer, potentially rendering traditional DAM platforms obsolete for simple asset storage and retrieval tasks.
“For the first time, we have a technology capable of accurately applying virtually unlimited metadata tags to digital assets. Unlike humans, GenAI tools never get bored, tired, or frustrated with repetitive tasks. They can analyze images, videos, and documents to generate rich, consistent metadata at a scale that would be impractical for even the most diligent humans.” [Read More]
However, the article stops short of declaring the death of DAM altogether. Instead, it offers a more balanced perspective: DAM still plays a vital role in managing creative workflows, especially for in-progress content. Features such as version control, access permissions, and audit trails remain essential, and GenAI alone cannot yet replicate the structural oversight that DAM platforms provide.
One of the article’s strengths is its forward-looking vision: it critiques current DAM vendors for merely bolting AI onto legacy systems as an afterthought, rather than rethinking asset workflows from the ground up. The suggested future – where GenAI handles tagging, search, and even creative ideation, while DAM maintains process and compliance – is compelling. Of particularly interest is the notion of GenAI generating concept variations and flagging brand inconsistencies automatically.
“As teams upload new assets, GenAI can automatically evaluate them against established brand guidelines, flagging issues before they cause problems with clients or compliance teams. AI tools will also help teams identify conceptual relationships across assets, adding a new layer of creative potential to the search process.” [Read More]
Overall, the article is both informative and thought-provoking. It avoids the hype that often surrounds AI discussions and instead offers a grounded analysis of where real transformation is likely to occur, positioning the future of DAM not as a binary choice between old and new, but as an integrated model where GenAI enhances, rather than replaces, traditional systems.
You can read the full article at the link below.
https://digitalassetmanagementnews.org/features/how-genai-is-transforming-dam/
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