AI and the Artistic Process

As an artist, I am choosing to remain Indifferent to AI. I don’t reject it, I’m just consciously indifferent. I neither embrace nor reject. I’m all about process. Art is all about process and AI quickens the process. If you start here and finish there that equates to a different result, and as an artist, we must know that and never fall victim to speed. Personally I fear the limiting results of AI, and I always want to know what more is possible. It’s always about the possibilities, the act of discovery, curiosity and exploration that leads to the greatest answers. What emerges out of the silence and out of the dark is what interests me. I want to leave space for, daydream about and follow that. Coppola said about filmmaking “you ask a question and get an answer”. I guess that is true of AI, but that answer is always going to be based off of someone else’s answer.

‘Red Dance’ oil on wood, by Catherine Black in Johnston Nebraska

Will AI become conscious one day? And what are the ethics of AI as a sentient being? I’m not sure I want to know that yet. What I do know is that AI actors (digital objects) have no soul and it creeps me out. It’s like when you go to a funeral and there’s an open casket of a loved one - it looks like them but they aren’t there. In Latin, Charisma means light from within. Besides the emptiness of watching movies with essentially zombies sans charisma, “walking” around telling stories, that lack of humanity and light behind their eyes, that gene c'est quoi that connects us to another and allows us to have a catharsis through watching a living being live a life on screen, will be lost. And what will that do to how we view the humans in front of us? I think we will lose a lot and the ramifications of that loss will be more detrimental than most have yet to contemplate.

AI can be a great tool to assist art, like with VFX and audio (GT) but why on earth would you use it to replace artists? That’s ludicrous and only non artists would suggest such a thing. Sign me up for AI to do my taxes (sorry to my beloved accountant) but even still, when I’m making millions, I want a human accountant to make those determinations (with the help of AI if they so chose). There’s also still a lot of stupidity in AI. Only synthetic answers to meaningful questions. I had a student ChatGPT the term narcissism when they were playing a narcissist and the answers they got were wildly inaccurate. They came back with a pile of opinion based observations that were factually wrong. Plus, this actor missed an important step of the process by reaching for AI. Research is part of text analysis, and that stage is critical to answering questions, creating a world, building empathy and embodying the atmosphere. There’s a reason why one of the greatest actors in the world takes years to prepare a role. Of course, we are all thinking of Daniel Day Lewis. Can you imagine how mediocre his performances would be if he ChatGPT’d his process and narrowed it down to seconds vs years? While he may take way too long to prepare a role - Daniel, if you’re reading, I can help you with that - there is so much glorious wisdom in his process.

I know many will disagree with me and simply see AI as a tool to expand their creativity, and that’s great. I just propose that we should never forget that speed in the artistic process will always be limiting. The answers from AI will be different than they would be from a human who loves, has lost, experiences existential disappointment, who takes the time to contemplate and bring their unique point of view from their own unique life’s circumstances and therefore discover what more is possible. I also believe that ideas are often “downloaded” from God/Creator/Universe/higher Self and is AI able to hear those messages? Is AI the message? Is AI spiritual? I think that AI could be like philosophy and maybe even philosophical in the future - challenging the very nature of what we do, pushing boundaries in itself and that could also be art…. But philosophy is just that, philosophy. AI supremacy is just a future problem right? Like climate change? And then there’s the question of different layers of consciousness and what is consciousness? Could AI be conscious? Humanity has a sick curiosity to find out what real life West World or Ex Machina would really be like. But should we find out? Like we might be able to mate with Chimpanzees but should we?

AI changes algorithms, how we communicate, connect, our genetic makeup, how we identify and our self awareness. AI is configuring our neural networks at a biological level. Our neurotransmitters and neurochemical’s - how we bridge ideas - is all currently being influenced by AI. And I’m not entirely ok with that. Using AI to problem solve could be great, but it could also turn our minds into mush. Problem solving is part of the process and a sign of intelligence after all. As AI is being handled right now and the human impacts, whether that’s a lack of attention, impatience, questions of consent, privacy, ownership, digital echo chambers, digital addition, etc. is all creating the risk of a dumbed down society. A dumbed down society will lead to depression, apathy and escapism. Are you OK with that?

AI is now in our face daily, even though it was already in the background for 10+ years. There’s been a recent huge push for AI and we’re now aware of its power and have consumer products which are already part of our daily lives. Whether it’s text generated art, autocorrect or image generated art, it can be helpful. The tech giants have jumped on the bandwagon and you can’t go anywhere without AI being advertised to you. This has also made it more real and created a greater existential anxiety about AI taking over our jobs.

I heard Guillermo del Toro say AI was an “a-front on the Universe itself” As an artist, I agree. However, as long as we continue to play, experiment and leave room for curiosity and only see AI as an extension (not the driving force), while also knowing that the tech is creating a short cut to discovery and how limiting that could be, I think that it might be OK…. As long as we fiercely protect the artistic process, then I guess it’s ok. But it is a slippery slope as humans are prone to laziness. When I can trust AI as an artist, and not just feed the beast, maybe I’ll experiment with it, but right now, I don’t know how AI works or fits in my art yet.

In the film industry, of course I worry that AI will remove jobs from crew by reducing filming days. I have ideas about how to mitigate that. We know how many hours an 8th of a page takes to film and above and below the line workers should be paid accordingly. I also worry that film and TV work will become even more trivial, more regurgitated nonsense with nothing new. There will be no more mind blowing stories, no real point of view because film and TV will be made by non artists or by AI artists who skip the artistic process because there’s a fun tool to do so and to do it faster. The result will be a bunch of superficial drivel that will also dumb us down. Whereas, using AI as a tool in filmmaking, could open up the doors for indie filmmakers like myself to tell high concept stories without millions of dollars and the gate keepers who keep us out.

I don’t think the jury is out yet when it comes to AI and that it’s a mistake to believe it’s too late. We don’t need to fall for that transparent marketing. The impacts of AI on our futures and our children’s future has not been thought through deeply enough. It is still evolving. We are at the very beginning of AI and the impacts it will have on all industries, art, the artistic process and our brains. Not to mention how we protect our work…. Creative Commons and Open Source markets vs Copyright material…. There is no doubt the next generation of artists will use AI. I think that AI will drive the next 20 years, swinging from tech and then back to basics and what it means to be human, what it means to create art and how we co-evolve with tech while still maintaining the integrity of the artistic process. And I’m excited to see what more is possible.

I still believe that humans will always choose humans. Maybe I am naive to think so... I can’t help but believe that we will always respond to the truth when we hear it. We will always choose human connection. That’s why podcasts are so huge, because we crave human connection. But at the same time, we are being altered on a biological level to fall down into reality tunnels and for lightening speed connection over real organic connection. I personally want to fight this and ground myself in real human connection. I want to keep reading books, spend my time in nature and off of screens - always leaving room for process and daydreams and never falling for the glamour of speed.

Humans drive tech and the consumption of art - what we fund, what we consume and public perception (which changes quickly) will define our future. We need to make sure AI doesn’t become more intelligent than us because if that happens, we’re done. Governments need to regulate AI because it is currently all profit driven. We are in a development arms race right now. AI experts have warned it’s as destructive as a nuclear threat but with upsides like advances in medicine. We need government regulation so companies developing new stuff for profits don’t also make harmful stuff too. That’s why AI won’t be stopped. How can we make a super intelligence not want to take over? How can we prevent AI cyber attacks, AI fake videos determining elections, AI developed bio weapons, job losses etc. I’m just an artist and although I worry deeply about all of the above, my interest is in conflict resolution, problem solving, curiosity, exploration, experimentation, play, spirituality, surprise, patience, self discovery and true innovation - not prompted.

Is AI a tool that can never replace human creativity? Can AI create? What is creativity? I don’t know these answers. All I know is AI is an algorithm that pulls from data based on what has been pre curated and everything that it has been fed and how innovative can that possibly be? And who has decided what is curated? AI could be a tool for brainstorming, perhaps a great collaborator and could have a huge impact on one’s creativity. The potential is massive but that doesn’t mean that all art or artists need to use it. AI will change your process and your art no matter how you use it. It all depends on the human artist and a personal question for you, the human artist and your own artistic process. What I do know is when AI creates like a child, then we’re screwed.