AI and Art: Potent Combo or Deadly Mix?
Everybody is talking about AI — its value and ethics — and we are no exception. We’re wondering what AI means for the making of art.
The creative fields are on the verge of a productivity revolution. With AI, artists soon will have virtual assistants — researchers, clerical workers, even musicians, writers, and illustrators. They’ll produce more work, more quickly. And yes, they’ll fake authenticity more convincingly than ever before, if that’s the goal for them.
It’s daunting.
Ironically, the essence of art — identity and expression — is as pure and simple as it ever was. Decades ago, drummers railed against drum machines, performers took aim at non-linear digital editing, and singers rolled their eyes at Auto-Tune. The current era promises to clone artistic creation by automating not only the technical processes behind it, but the appearance of real, human thought and emotion.
Of course the apparent is not the same as the actual — regardless of how convincing it might be. And that is why AI will never make human art. No matter how sophisticated it becomes, it can only impersonate the DNA, the soul of a human being. It can only snooker the unsuspecting.
It doesn’t matter, in other words, if AI can “sound like” John Lennon. If it isn’t really him, it’s just a parlor trick.
Who cares about tricks?
AI is a versatile, powerful tool. Word to the self-actualized: hang it in the shed with the spade and the rake.
About Mark DoyonI run Wampus, a creative development agency and label for emerging artists and authors. I make records as Arms of Kismet (and sometimes Waterslide), and wrote the novel 'Deep Fried.'
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