Totally, although that question of creativity or drudgery is becoming redundant, I suspect, more like it’ll do both lol.
When I was working in a big agency, c. 2017, someone came in and showed us something cooked up by AI and it was a POS (piece of shit not point of sale, ha ha).
Fast forward to today and we get something like this (h/t Bruce Daisley’s Substack). *** Disclaimer: I have no idea the extent to which AI created this last video ***
Who knows how much generative AI content we are already reading across all Media?
I see debates on Substack all the time between authors, some of who are openly leaning into ChatGPT as a tool to break through writers block and flesh out ideas, while the other group are ready to light the torches and reach for the pitchforks as though that’s a hate crime.
We have been using machines as tools to create music for over 200 years, but what about literature? If AI can assist in creating great art, so long as it’s used as a tool and not the sole creator, should that be an issue? I dunno.
Other mediums like film/tv and graphic design are obviously more problematic, but I wonder if the art of the written word can benefit, or would it just be more AI slop? But then there is a whole other issue of data theft from published authors to fuel AI learning.
Waaay earlier on this thread I was a bit of a doom monger. Now I’m a full on doom monger. Without putting too fine a point on it, if you work in the creative industries, your life is going to be turned upside down within a few years. We will quickly get to the point where AI is churning out endless content as good as any human could ever produce. The consequences for music, art, entertainment, are mind blowing. AI will be able to script a book, turn it into a film, and promote it on a platform for nothing, and the tragic thing is it will sometimes be incredible.
This is AI and we are in the earliest days.
I work in comms. I wrote an opinion piece for someone a couple of weeks ago, took me two hours. My colleague put the same source material into AI and after a few tweaks it produced something as good and then better than mine. And I’ve been doing this for 30 years…
super stressed about it all tbh. my brain can’t keep up with it all.
eg I just did an application for a remote AI tutoring role which was well-paid and had looked doable in the ad, but the test was impossible - endless questions related to linguistics, mental reasoning, detailed image observations, prompt cues and stuff like that
I vacillate between being a doom monger and a cynic. One thing to keep in mind is that the people hyping AI are the people selling it. I don’t think AI would ever be capable of creating a genius work of art. Big Marvel-type action movies or Hollywood thrillers maybe. Pop music has already been going the route of faceless bite-sized confections devoid of any quirk or personality so AI seems the next logical step for that kind of music, tbh.
If everything were produced by AI, the creative act would be so devalued–and who would even want to spend money on AI-generated content? It’s one thing to share generated slop, but quite another to fork over for music/movies/books what have you. But as the content delivery systems continue to tend to streaming (ie Spotify), and these platforms already pay only a pittance to artists, people will likely have fewer objections as the service fee will include AI content as well as a curated back catalogue. You’ll pay a nominal fee for mass market “content” and many people (sigh) will likely be happy with that.
The best-case scenario seems to be that the act of creating art dwindles to a smaller share of the pie, but tons of great stuff keeps coming out (see “Bandcamp Musts”) for a dedicated audience.
All said, I’ve found it useful for summarising things–recently I had to do interviews with several different candidates and took copious notes. I had ChatGPT break down my notes into the strengths/weaknesses etc very well in just a few seconds. Certainly a productivity enhancer…
My view is there will be a flood of “content” and social media as a way of humans and friends connecting will become pointless (already is: Meta says only 17% of social media posts are actually between friends these days).
So this will push people back to IRL experiences.
Walking tours, food tours. Community events.
Story telling and connection will be really important. I think hospitality, parties, festivals will be important.
I do think my job, and many other white collar “university educated” jobs will take a massive hit.
AI has no mortgage, no coffee breaks, no problems with colleagues. It can read contracts quickly.
I’m not sure how quickly this will happen, but I don’t think it’s that far away.
I am thinking about what I will need to do in the future.
Yep. AI isn’t going to form a band or make a sculpture etc
The audience for AI isn’t the public, it’s investors. Tech companies need to keep creating massive hype cycles to attract the money. (Crypto/blockchain, Voice, NFTs, Metaverse, etc etc)
Sometimes useful stuff is left on the beach after the wave has receded - and this one does feel like it’s more seismic - but you are right to keep an eye on the money.
Won’t AI just make art like most other things. The same way we currently can choose to consume cheap, machine produced clothes or pay more for beautiful, handmade pieces. Art will just go the same way. There will always be a market for genuine art.
Put in the context of digital DJing, sync button culture etc. There are many people who think that the bar has been lowered too far to become a successful DJ. However there are also many people who say, it doesn’t matter a jot. Provided the music is good.
Are we heading towards a point were the same people will see art in the same way. ‘I dont care how it was made. It’s only the finished product that counts’
We may end up in a situation were people are celebrated as artists for just being really really good at putting instructions into AI.
Absolutely yes. There will always be a small minority who want to “keep it real” but most won’t care.
I don’t know much about modern art but haven’t similar things been happening for years in that world, doesn’t Damien Hirst et al have 'assistants who create some of the works for him, like the drip paintings?
I truly hope so. Having aged out of the ad game I’ve returned to fiction-writing, my first love. Like a fool, I’m pinning (almost) everything on it 
only to discover that AI will now write a novel in a day.
Keep your fingers crossed for me.
I’ve just had to deal with an AI call centre and had to hang up infuriated. So patronising and so many freaking dead ends.
Maybe we’ll all go mad from the AI and then none of it will matter? That’s how they take over.
Chat GPT is a bad loser lol.
https://www.extremetech.com/computing/chatgpt-lost-a-chess-game-to-an-atari-2600
Call centre ( voice) or chat bot
I work in tech ( inc selling AI) & they drive me insane
Unsurprising news of the day!
I asked ChatGPT to tell me what it thought of the article:
ChatGPT’s take
I agree with the gist of the article: overreliance on ChatGPT can dull critical faculties, especially when it’s used as a substitute for thinking. But the study also shows that used with intention and structure, AI can enhance learning rather than hinder it.
In short: don’t outsource your brain—but there’s great promise in tools that support your thinking process without replacing it.
sure thing ChatGPT!
I’ve been in the User Experience field for over 10 years now and I can say AI is not taking my job (although it will probably take a lot of early roles). Right now it’s good at the “intern” tasks of cleaning up and auditing my figma files and streamlining the mundane day-to-day tasks. It cannot think critically through a lot of design challenges.
