Artificial intelligence (AI) is gradually becoming part of our everyday lives.
AI is there in the digital personal assistants we use on our phones. It’s sitting in the background in our accounting software, business systems and marketing solutions, analysing data and sending us insights and notifications. It’s being used to crunch huge amounts of data to find the answers to the big questions, or find cures to major diseases that threaten our future.
And that’s all fine. AI, as a technology, has a multitude of uses where it could be of significant benefit to humanity. That’s not in question.
But we’re also making significant use of generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini etc – solutions that profess to speed up and streamline the whole process of being creative, while stealing the intellectual property and skills of human creatives.
Automating a process that doesn’t need to be automated
AI can write you a poem, draft you a novel, paint you a picture or write you a terrible country song. But why?
Why are we using this fantastically powerful AI technology to replace the exact part of the creative process that true creatives actually enjoy?
- Writers like to write.
- Painters love to paint.
- Musicians love to make music
Why are we creating AI tools that speed up the process and remove the whole joy of creating?
If you’re a non-writer, a terrible artist or can’t play a note on a guitar, I can understand the allure of an AI tool that can produce something approximating a poem, illustration or song.
It’s yet another ‘hack’. A cheat code that allows you to achieve something without any of the hard work of actually learning a craft, or investing in becoming an expert at something.
But (and this is a major BUT), there are millions of people who CAN write. People who can paint. People who can make beautiful music. People who are losing their livelihoods because of this bizarre use of AI tech.
Removing the true joy of the creative experience
The way we’re using generative AI at present is taking away the fundamental joy and achievement for creative people.
I don’t want an app that can make a techno track for me in half a second. I actually LOVE the process of playing around with the sounds, choosing an arrangement, experimenting with effects and EQ, or just noodling around to see what I can create.
Using my brain, applying my musical skills, and learning how to use the music-making software tools is a major part of why I enjoy being creative with music.
And I’m sure I speak for the other creative people too, whether it’s illustrators, painters, authors, musical artists or freelance content writers like myself.
Think for a second about an activity that you enjoy. It could be taking a long walk in nature on a Sunday. Or relaxing with a good film after a hard day at work. Or playing a game of tennis.
Imagine if there was a magical app where you could press a button and this activity had instantly happened, but without you actually experiencing the excitement, enjoyment or validation of completing the activity.
The result with none of the wholesome experience.
CLICK! You’ve been for the walk, and have an implanted memory of it, but didn’t actually take a single step of the walk in the real world.
CLICK! You’ve watched the movie, but had none of the entertainment value of watching the plot unfold, or gradually getting to know the characters and their stories.
CLICK! You’ve won the game of tennis, but didn’t actually do any physical exercise and didn’t have to apply your sporting strategy and skills to the game.
This is what generative AI is doing for creatives! It’s creating an efficiency that no creative has asked for.
- It’s removing the enjoyment of actually using our creative skills
- It’s turning creation into an empty husk of its former self
- It’s devaluing our skills, experience and capabilities as creatives.
AI automation that’s driven by economics and productivity
Why is AI automating the creative process?
Because it’s faster, cheaper and more convenient to put a prompt into a generative AI app, and to get something that approximates good writing, art or music – but which is, in almost all measurable ways, an inferior piece of art.
It’s about economics and productivity.
AI allows you to create 10 blog posts in five minutes, without having to pay a content writer to do it. It *seems* like you’re winning the race. But those 10 blog posts will be generic, empty of any human insight and invariably full of ‘AI hallucinations’ – errors or non-facts that the generative AI has created to fill the gaps in its own dataset and knowledge.
So, by all means, use ChatGPT, if what you’re interested in is fast, cheap content that’s utterly generic and probably full of untruths.
But if you want something unique, informed, insightful and full of personality, get a human being to do it. Support the creative industries, place some true value in human-made art and content and stop taking the skills of creatives for granted.
AI and creativity can work together. It’s not a case of ‘only one, or the other’. But we do have to stop trying to replace the creative process wholesale. The best case scenario is for AI to be used alongside human creatives, aiding research and making the dull tasks less tedious.
However, we have to understand the value of human interaction and innovation in the creative process – and place more value in our creative people.
Frequencies Of The Southern Hemisphere
Want to experience something creative that was created without any AI?
Go and check out my latest album, Frequencies Of The Southern Hemisphere by CommsBreakdown. It’s a journey through the natural sounds of Australia, mixed with electronica, ambient, downtempo and post-rock textures.
CommsBreakdown 