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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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My hope is that by the time you finish listening to this, you'll feel a little bit better in general about the idea of AI. I know that it is something that causes a lot of worry for people.
I have certain friends who have admitted to me that they spend more time thinking about it than they feel they would like to, and it's occupying their thoughts, not out of interest, but primarily out of worry, which is quite sad to hear. I've always been interested in AI, well I say always, about as long as things like ChatGPT have been available to the public.
So, you know, over the last three or four years I've been quite interested in the technologies. And I do appreciate that the worries are somewhat legitimate. And I myself have also felt them. You know, these are... paradigm-shifting technologies that feel like they are beginning to change culture, change society very quickly in a way that doesn't seem all too obvious.
And the future looks a little bit uncertain. There are a few question marks around what artificial intelligence might mean for us all as humans and what it might mean for our future as a society. How does it work with these technologies embedded within it and especially with how they may change and how quickly they are already changing?
But after thinking about these technologies a lot myself, sort of pondering over the philosophies of them, shall we say, I've come to a few conclusions that make me feel better about them in general. And I'm hoping I can impart some of this to you now.
And I'd like to start with talking about AI as a creative tool because I believe that when you begin to unpack why it is that AI is, at least I believe, not necessarily ever going to be such a threat to the creative art or creativity in general.
I think it uncovers a foundational truth about AI in general that helps me feel a little bit better about its place now that it's here within society and within humanity's future, as it were.
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Chapter 2: How does AI impact our perception of creativity?
And I suppose to outline the general discussion around AI and creativity at the moment is this feeling amongst many that this use of generative AI to produce works of, what I will put in inverted commas, art, is somehow going to destroy the industry of art on the side of economics, but perhaps more so destroy the spirit of art and society.
In this world where, in order for art to be seen in the modern day, really, it needs to be proliferated in a way that can be economized, monetized in some way. If it can be produced cheaply by these AI people, either generating images or generating text or generating music, all of these things which are being readily done at a large scale already with AI.
If it can be done cheaply and quickly using these tools, then it will somehow... genuine human creativity. And there will be less of a place for human art. And this, I think, is ultimately a falsehood. And though you will already see people making money from
art and i say art just now and i will begin to caveat myself i will attempt to hold the point that i was just about to make in my mind as i begin to explore something else a little bit further and that is the fact that i would prefer not to actually even describe what is created
by generative AI as art, though these images and these sounds that we describe as AI music and this text that we describe as AI prose does in fact appear as art.
I do hesitate to describe it as art, and I am now searching my mind for an alternative term, and perhaps that term is something akin to content, because I think content is a word that is used quite often within the industry of online art. And it is a word that implies art that has been created to be consumed for monetary gain. And AI produces things.
When I say AI produces these things, people use AI to produce this kind of image and sound and writing. mainly for monetary gain now of course i'm not trying to attack anyone who enjoys using ai to perhaps bring to life some whim or fantasy of their own for their own personal enjoyment
I think in a way that is more akin to art than those who try to abuse it for its expediency at producing content. But it is this sort of specific use of the tool to engage in this capitalist flywheel, hamster wheel, should I say, of maximal output for uh fewest dollars spent and highest return on investment that i am i'm trying to describe here and so henceforth if i am referring to
images, sounds or text produced by AI, I will refer to it as AI content. Although I may interchangeably describe human art as content as well, but hopefully I'll be able to make it easily distinguishable as I'm talking between the two. Now, I believe I was trying to make the point that
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Chapter 3: What concerns do people have about AI in the creative industry?
to think in the abstract, to think more holistically, to understand metaphor and underlying meaning. So if the left hemisphere were to be the part of the brain that hears a sentence, for example, like This room is very hot today. It would receive the words, understand the language in its literal form, and interpret it as was said.
And the meaning that would be derived from that would be that the person who is talking believes it to be hot today. but it is the right hemisphere that is fed the whole meaning and phrase and is able to interpret using myriad other signals from perhaps the person's body language or movements or just tone of voice. And of course, context of people and empathy.
To hear the hidden meaning behind those words. And it is the right hemisphere that would understand that this person talking would like me to open a window or needs a cold drink.
and i say all of this to make my case that i believe it is the right hemisphere as i say that is much more capable of understanding metaphor and has long been attributed to the more creative and artistic elements of the mind And so I believe art is in fact the language of the right brain, where words are the language of the left.
And if this is the case, then art is indeed a language explicitly used to communicate, to express something inside deep that illuminates the lived experience of one human being or another. And some may argue that art is not always like this. Some listening right now, you may produce art yourself and it may be for no other reason in your mind than for the enjoyment of it.
You may not be attempting to communicate anything deeper than art. an expression of the delight in replicating a beautiful landscape in watercolour. But I would have to argue against that sentiment and try and make the case that even art for art's sake, as an expression of creation, is a form of communication.
Even if you wish it not to be with anyone else, even if you do not show your art to anyone, this simple act of creation is communication. an attempt at communication with oneself. You could say it were perhaps akin to keeping a journal that you never showed anyone. This act of writing, again, is another form of creativity that is an attempt to communicate with oneself.
Although, even though there are very many incidences of people creating art for themselves, it cannot be denied that art is often produced with an emotional message and is often produced in an attempt to convey a message to many people. Art is often communal. Art is often cultural. And thus communicates in a way that perhaps even language cannot as precise and granular as it can be.
And so if we see art in this way as a form of communication, then when we think about the kinds of content that AI produce, then truly we cannot see it as art. because the act of communication begins and ends with the attempt at a prompt by a human and goes no further. And so as you look at an image that was produced by AI There is no lived experience there. There is no heart.
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Chapter 4: How does AI challenge traditional definitions of art?
It is at the very least against the rules of capitalism and at the very most and injustice to the human creative process. It is the antithesis of collaboration. And so I guess in a roundabout way what I'm trying to say is human connection will always be the primary want of human beings in a society. And so, AI cannot have a destiny where it
takes over our culture and our relationships and our ideas. Because at their most base level, they will feel groundless and synthetic. And I think we will be moving into a time soon where people are pushing back more.
And if you are someone who feels overwhelmed by these changes, who feels overwhelmed by seeing the words AI plastered everywhere, it seems like you are unable to interact with anything without some element of new large language model or image generation integrated within it, then you too can take solace in the fact that you are a part of a society
who is beginning to say no to these things and that you as an individual and on top of that we as a society have the option to do away with these things And the way that we do that is to refuse. Because, as I say, ultimately these technologies are being produced at breakneck speeds by very wealthy billionaires.
whose companies are essentially just trying to race to the top for their own financial gain. But they will cease to do so if financial gain no longer seems feasible. And so, refuse to use these things. You are well within your right to do so. My dad told me many years ago that the only way you can truly vote in our society is with your money.
And that phrase had a profound effect on me, because the longer I've lived since he said it to me, the more it seems to be proven to be true. The biggest changes that happen in our society seem to be based around some such market. And so I've always taken that quite seriously. And it is true.
If we do not invest our money or attention, because of course, you must remember, your attention is worth more, perhaps, than money to some of these companies. It can be invested and should be invested wisely. So if we do not invest our money or our attention in these things, our culture will turn away from them. And I do truly have faith that in the long run we will.
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