Generative AI has been at the center of public discourse for the past year.
We're at the dawn of a new era. It will change society like electricity did in the 20th century, we're told.
AI has been around for a long time. So why sudden attention? Because it can now create. Silicon has desacralized the time-honored privilege of sentient beings. And that's scary.
Is AI a threat to human creativity?
I don't think so. At least not today.
Creativity is about originality
AI can't be original because originality requires risk-taking. AI is not programmed to take risks. It doesn't push us forward but right back in the middle of our comfort zone.
Everything that ChatGPT writes feels safe. Safe to read. Safe to say. Safe to think.
And it doesn't know how to be funny because a joke is always a risk. Case in point:
ChatGPT: "Write a Chuck Norris fact that refers to a banana"
Attempt 1: Chuck Norris can peel a banana with his mind.
Attempt 2: When Chuck Norris peels a banana, it's the banana that feels naked.
Attempt 3: Chuck Norris can peel a banana with his mind.
Attempt 4: Chuck Norris can peel a banana with his mind.
...
My attempt: When Chuck Norris walks on a banana peel, it's the Earth that slips.
(Note: please appreciate the amount of risk taken by the author)
Ideas are cheap
Much ink has been spilled on AI model training and the risk of appropriation of others' work.
We're concerned about Intellectual Property and that creators must be paid fairly. But for what? Their ideas?
Ideas don't belong to anybody. They belong to our collective wisdom. They shouldn't be the privilege of a few.
Patents and trademarks make more money for lawyers than their “owners.”
Ideas are cheap. AI made them cheaper.
Maybe it's a good opportunity for us to stop holding onto "our" ideas and focus on authenticity. Because that's what people crave for.
There's nothing new, original, or authentic about regurgitating existing content verbatim. So why worry that people will find that valuable? Sure, some may. But not the ones who matter.
People who buy counterfeits are not your clients in the first place.
People consuming your music for free are not your patrons.
Your real clients care about you and will always go the extra mile to support you. Not your ideas. Your stories. Or rather, their stories with you.
Generative AI is not a threat to art.
Art is not about ideas.
It's about explaining the world differently. It's about challenging our understanding and status quo.
Art is not about being right, and especially not about being safe. It’s how much we can get away with being wrong.
It’s about lying just the right amount.
We expect to be deceived by art. To be misdirected. Surprised.
AI doesn’t lie. Not on purpose.
Generative AI is superficial.
ChatGPT is not intelligent. It is intelligible.
It doesn’t know. It only tells. Like a savant parrot.
It sounds credible because it has mastered form. And we are weak to form.
But while we're impressed, deep inside, we're not moved.
And until AI can move us, human creativity has good days ahead.
Now, let's see how well this hot take will age ...
(you can also follow me on https://theproudprocrastinator.substack.com/)