AI on the Rise: Is Human Creativity Doomed to Fail?
Artificial intelligence can be useful, but limitations should be set to ensure its use is ethical. This can be difficult in a capitalist society and more for the enthusiastic Engineers who constantly try to outdo each other. Although it challenges the human creativity, technical ability and speed, it does not have the capacity for originality. These generative AI models create more struggle for Artists & Writers to push the boundaries of their craft.
But before we can address the issue of originality in relation to AI, we need to understand what originality means.
The concept of originality is subjective and often associated with a specific subculture or a narrow understanding of history. In this context, we should replace history for the word “Reference”. The concept of originality we speak is not bordered by a sheer amount of creativity alone but also the temporal context that is associated with doing something outside a particular cultural and intellectual timeline. It is safe to say originality is an adjective that is more appealing when all our focus is within a shoebox.
There is a word that is always thrown around in Resumes to help candidates stand out, but perhaps we should reconsider its meaning. it describes every human at least once in their lifetime. But should we not reexamine the word “creative”? It has lost its grip on the branches of visionary and artistic human endeavours. In general terms, being creative involves coming up with new approaches, ideas, or solutions and often requires thinking outside the shoebox. In artistic terms, creativity is the output of imagination and skill to create something that is original. But originality in artistic expression is like a balance scale, with two main factors: exposure (a combination of cultural references and education) and innateness (a natural ability to create or do something without prior experience or education). You and I can both agree that exposure outweighs innateness.
The makeup of our society is structured to follow an existential pattern from birth to death. First, we are born and integrated into society through education. We attain independence by working and eventually become a source of dependence before death. The education phase is the most formative period for humans and we sometimes miss reaching our congenital abilities to do exceptional things. Except for the very obvious ones of course. and for the others, Late Bloomers. Being incredible at something without education is talent. But being exceptional at something requires more than that, especially when there is enough cultural reference to benchmark it with. So it is safe to say even exposure can build talent.
The current argument on AI vs Artists is solely based on 2 things; originality and the speed of craft. While we will address the issue of craft later, let’s first conclude the discussion on originality. Nothing is purely original, except for perhaps the Adidas Originals brand, which was inspired by the Adidas Classics from the 1950s, which were themselves a reiteration of earlier athletic running shoes. And we can go back and before the first breadth of man. In order to be original, there must be a foundation or structure upon which an idea is built. Humans create based on what they have seen, liked, or have available to them.
A 3 part experiment on the modern study of inspiration, imitation and creation carried out by Takeshi Okada and Kentaro Ishibashi found that artists are more likely to create unique and creative drawings when they are exposed to unfamiliar works. Seeing something new challenges their cognitive restraints and allows them to come up with original ideas. However, this does not mean that all original ideas come from exposure to new things. Some original ideas come from a deep understanding of a specific subject or cultural context. Outside of this experiment, Artist who imitate other artists without musing over unfamiliar works can hardly form new perspectives that can break their cognitive restraints.
Although artificial intelligence cannot operate at the same level of complexity as the human mind, it can surpass human intelligence. Algorithmic neural networks are designed to mimic the cognitive processes of the human mind, i.e. been fed an earth sized amount of data similar to how a child is educated and integrated into society. The distinguishing factor of an Ai art is the generative manipulation of different sources of art in a dataset and combining them in a way that highlights the input of the handler. Yes, I said handler. Not a Prompt Artist. An AI Handler, one who is responsible for guiding the AI. It’s important to note that the handler is not the same as the artist, but rather the person who controls the AI.
Some developers might argue that machine learning algorithms are like artists who imitate and copy other artists. While this argument may seem reasonable, it only holds up if we assume that Ai art is not computational. Because AI is not capable of functioning at the same level as the human mind, the art it creates lacks feeling, perspective, and reason. However, some people might argue that the definition of art is based on how the audience feels about it, which includes the emotional response and the connection to the artistic narrative. But to truly understand and appreciate art, it is important to consider the artist’s creative process and how it influences the audience’s interpretation of the work.
Let us talk about Craft. Another debate surrounding AI in art is whether it should be considered a tool. If it is, anyone who sets a prompt should be considered an Artist. However, this belittles the role of the artist. Let me make that clearer. You are not a mathematician by the using a calculator, nor should you be an Artist because you understand art history, its principle and its overall subject matter. In reality, the output of an AI is often impressive when it is guided by someone who can describe a desired outcome. The more specific the parameters and constraints are, the more closely the AI’s output will resemble the written prompt, which typically includes references for the AI to draw upon in its dataset.
It wasn’t long ago that digital art started to be taken seriously. The rise of NFTs initially helped change the narrative around digital art, but the acceptance of digital art as a legitimate form of art has been a slow process. This is partly because many traditional art educators have not fully embraced the digital medium, believing that true art requires a mastery of physical materials and the struggle of craftsmanship. Unlike digital art, which comes with a pack of convenience and undo buttons. traditional art is often seen as having more value because it requires a level of skill and understanding of materials. Digital arts are only 0s and 1s programmed to resemble something hand crafted but lacks the versatility of physicality and material. Despite this, digital tools have become increasingly dominant in the art world due to their accessibility, convenience, and the ability to share and distribute art easily. Many people who create digital art do not need a formal art education, but rather just need to learn how to use the tools and software. As a result, much of the digital art that is produced may be limited to the artistic constraints of the tools being used or may simply imitate styles that the artist has been exposed to.
As an Artist, it is sometimes difficult to accept the increasing role of AI in the art industry. Artists’ who respond harshly to the rise of AI arts are only worried of how the society will re-evaluate their craft. This concern may be driven by the vast number of artistic expressions that AI is capable of producing, as well as the speed at which it can generate content, regardless of the complexity of the input instructions or the computational resources available.
To conclude, it is indisputable that the next phase for content-generating AI models, such as natural language generation models or generative art models, is the potential to become sentient. Today, These models can best be appreciated as tools that exposes artists to an unfamiliar work that will limit their cognitive restraints, ultimately making us more creative than we have ever been. The future of Artificial Intelligence is monumental and the speed to which it comes is in the market that needs it the most.
The society is changing rapidly but we are not adapting fast enough to accommodate the exponential growth of Artificial Intelligence. As humans, we are inherently rooted in our primal nature, and it is important that technology is designed in a way that takes into account the cultural landscape of our current society. When this is not the case, it will create a bittersweet relationship between humans and artificial intelligence.
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