We live in a time of rapid change, and a time where artificial intelligence is capable of generating music, art, and stories that could conceivably pass as human. When I say “human” in this context, I mean something that is genuine, real. It’s becoming harder and harder to discern the AI-generated content we see online from the work created by people.
There’s an interesting thought experiment in this conversation: consider a time in the (not-so-distant) future where you can effortlessly prompt AI to generate an album that sounds like ___. The AI eventually returns a traditional album with songs and cover art. Imagine that, musically, you enjoy this album more than anything you’ve ever heard from the artist you previously supplied in your prompt. For all intents and purposes, AI has created the “perfect” album for your ears. Is this worth more than the album created by humans? How does the value of an AI-generated work of art compare to something created by humans, even if AI surpasses the “likeability” of something created by a person?
The truth is: I don’t know. It does seem to me there is some level of value outside of the tangible scale of likability that AI simply can’t achieve.
The easiest form of art to turn to is writing, because while most people write, they don’t consider what they do with it to be an art. They type emails, respond to texts, and take notes. These aren’t exceptionally glamorous activities. Because of this, it’s become socially acceptable to use AI as an assistant to perform these tasks. However, a different response is received if it’s a fantasy writer or a journalist using AI for writing instead of mundane tasks.
I think there is a hidden metric we associate with things we consider to be artistic that we want to be done by a person. After all, did AI lock itself in the studio for days to write and record the album? Did AI pull all-nighters as it worked through the final pages of its novel? Did AI overcome any sort of personal obstacle to create?
There is some value in the work we put in as people to create and the stories behind our work. There has to be.
Artificial intelligence and the morality around its various uses is an extremely nuanced and divided topic. It’s a discussion that feels deeply tied to what society is willing to tolerate for its uses, and as the technology advances, we will likely see these tolerances loosen and tighten in different areas.
I think we’re all just figuring this out, but never discount the context, story, and human effort behind art. Without people, what’s left?