Since the discussion about artificial intelligence has become
mainstream, I have started to ponder AI’s possible impacts on our
day-to-day lives. While I work in tech, I come from this “culture and
arts” background, at least a little bit. I did some theatre when I was
young and have worked with music in one way or another for most of my
life. This background has got me thinking about how AI could affect
these fields.
We have seen multiple interdisciplinary works mixing artificial
intelligence with various art forms, like drawings, paintings, music
etc. Already drawings and paintings generated with AI present a superb
quality in those, in which you cannot distinguish whether these were
created by AI or an actual human. On the other hand, music is not
quite at that level yet, in my opinion. At least in the form of an
entirely generated song by AI. That being said, I have heard great
pieces utilizing both human touch and AI, where AI plays a supportive
role in the whole work. Similar things can be seen in all creative
endeavours where AI could be utilized.
If AI gets used more and more in these creative projects with great
success, to me, it raises a question, can human art be entirely
replaced with AI? I believe it would be naive to say that it
couldn’t. But, considering the possible future where we cannot
distinguish humans from computers, how could we determine this kind of
smaller medium like song or book on how it was created or who created
it? As a consumer of these kinds of mediums, does it matter if some
algorithms made your new favourite novel to provide the same feeling
that you might get from reading a regular author’s book?
They Are Taking Our Jobs
To put it shortly, AI can replace anyone’s job who happens to handle
bits in one way or another. AI can do it way better than you ever can
in these jobs. So when we talk about “creative jobs”, how can you do
it better than someone else? Are you possibly better at drawing than
someone else? Or can you compose better symphonies than someone else?
What makes you better? Is it purely a technical thing, or is there
something else? When we talk about painting or drawing’s technicality,
sure, you could argue that your “pen strokes”, etc., might be better
than someone else’s. But does this make it better art?
Already there has been a trend of AI-generated music populating
different streaming platforms. Currently, that music has almost always
been something simple in which AI can excel. This could be called
elevator music or Muzak. This kind of music is most likely something
that many people wouldn’t mind because it’s generated with a computer
and lacks the human touch. But how would people feel if there were a
chart-topping song entirely generated with AI? Again, I believe many
people wouldn’t like that, other than a few tech geeks who might think
it could be cool (me included).
Could AI then fully replace the human touch in our art forms? We might
wait for that to happen for a very long time. Still, as I said
earlier, it would be naive to think that this couldn’t happen,
especially in the future, where we have reached a certain level of
intelligence where we can’t distinguish each other from humans and
machines.
So what could this mean for our “blue-collar” artists? What could be
the driving force for them to create new art if the audience doesn’t
know if it was created by a computer or a human? To me, that seems
very grim.
Creative Programming
If we can’t beat them, join ’em? Right? If we think this will be the
future, while it might not be a very uplifting thing to consider,
it’ll most likely be very realistic. While AI will have dire
repercussions on our life in the future, I also believe it can be used
for great good. Whether AI is used in health, fighting climate change
etc., there are many good use cases. In my opinion, utilizing AI in
the arts is also one. Should you create your next song or novel
entirely with AI? Possibly not, although GPT-3 has shown some great
results on how good text it can write.
I like to write or play music, so I don’t want to replace the
artificial process I enjoy so much. So I could utilize it in my
creative endeavours by working with it side by side. It could possibly
generate some ideas for my next blog post, novel, poem or
whatever. For example, AI could be taught with the text of a long list
of your favourite authors or songs by your favourite bands. Based on
this knowledge, maybe some of the possible ideas it could generate
could be finished by a human giving the final piece that human touch.
Conclusion
So while the future might look dark and grim for us, maybe we could
make some use of it, so at least we might have a little bit of
enjoyment. Thankfully we are a long way from this singularity that
many people tend to talk about, but the trend has shown to be moving
towards that kind of future. So rather than fighting against it, at
least personally, I want to make the best use of our technical
achievements in one way or another. Who knows if the next big novel or
piece will be created with AI or other great technological
invention. That said, I have already found many great ways to utilize
AI in my creative projects, so who knows what might come from those.