In a world filled with technological advancement, it is only a matter of time before the art of creation can be replicated through the use of artificial intelligence. AI was first developed in 1955 by Allen Newell and Herbert A. Simon through the creation of an AI program called “Logic Theorist”. AI was originally used to do mindless tasks as a way to increase efficiency but after years of experimentation, the technology has reached a stage in which it can perform highly complex tasks that were once exclusive to the human mind.
The art of creation was one that was sacred to mankind for many years as artistic creativity dates back to 30 000 BP (Before the Present). Artistic pieces by esteemed artists such as Michelangelo (1475–1564), Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) and Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) were said to be the works of some the greatest minds of the world. Works such as the Mona Lisa, Symphony No 9 and The Starry Night still remain untouchable as such pieces require human touch and are unique to the minds of the creators.
With the development of artificial intelligence, mankind has managed to outsource meaningless tasks to machine learning in order to simplify life as we know it. Overall AI has managed to ease our computer or phone software, helped in the studies of numerous fields such as medicine, agriculture and space exploration but as we slowly hit a standstill on those fronts, more people are curious of how far this technology can truly go. AI generated content challenges the status quo by questioning the relationship between art and human touch. The content we consume only contains meaning due to the connections and emotions we feel.
AI Artwork
Today machine learning has managed to penetrate the art scene in New York. A piece of AI artwork created by a French trio known as Obvious managed to sell for an eye watering $430,000 and this promises a bright yet dreary future when it comes to the art industry. AI is used to process numerous pieces of artwork and spit out a unique piece each time and while many may not consider that to be creativity, we as humans also struggle to truly identify the purest form of creativity. Artists and creative professionals seek inspiration from their surrounding and create pieces of art by manifesting or combining various inspiring elements.
There is no true originality as there has to be a starting point for our minds to function and develop the idea. Humans and computers may not be so far apart when it comes to gathering inspiration and producing new works of art . More people are trying to explore the impact of AI on art and society due to continuous developments that have been made in the field of science but it is possible that art still relies on the manifestation of human emotions. Is it truly possible for a machine to create a piece of art that encapsulates the human experience and this question is being tackled on AIArtists.org
AI artwork is definitely an acquired taste but so is any artwork in general. Since there is no clear distinction as to what is considered as modern art, it is very difficult to fault a robot that is able to emulate similar results to the real deal. Machine learning is now capable of drawing real life portraits and achieving true forms of realism. Bas Uterwijkl has managed to create some of the most spectacular AI generated portraits that truly depict human talent and artistic capability. The portraits seem depict a life like quality through the depiction of emotions but the only issue with AI paintings is the lack of imperfections as the pieces seem almost too polished in a sense.
The creation and consumption of art are the most human activities as there is human emotion involved in the decoding of such information. Binary code can never create a touching story, at least that is what we are forced to believe for the time being. Slowly but surely we are creeping up on the ability to relate emotions with analytical thinking and all this is due to years worth of code that tries to encompass the human aspect of life. Machine generated content is only deemed eerie as we know those pieces of art were not created by a human being and this trend continues for pretty much anything.
We over analyze simplistic things as we know those creations were never born from a human mind, rather they spawned in from an existing algorithm. We can continue to compare the human mind to mathematical equations but that is unfair due to the fact that third party environmental changes are not taken into account. No mind will ever think alike but the same can’t be said for AI, at least it is too soon to determine that anyways. AI artwork may take some time to get used to but this creative space that seems to be developing in machine learning may in fact lead to numerous technological advances and replace even more human jobs in the process.
Creative Writing
This field has become extremely developed in the recent years due to companies such as OpenAI founded by Elon Musk. The field of creative writing encompasses screenplays, storytelling and scripting. All these skills requires vast amounts of creativity as a story is built out of nothing but ideas. There is no template or answer sheet when it comes to writing a screenplay as it all goes back to the ability of the writer to visualize a coherent image in his/her mind.
There are many publicly available tools when it comes to the creation of creative writing. These tools may be locked behind a paywall but as these tools become more widely available these paywalls will slowly dissolve. InspiroBot is used to generate unique inspirational quotes but these programs are a hit or miss when it comes to most cases. Verse by Verse on the other hand is an experimental program to write poetry and this was developed by Google. Much like any other program built on machine learning, it only works sometimes and it is completely nonsensical for the most parts.
Screenplay writing, is a bit more complex as it is more longform content and the main struggle for computer generated content is being able to create a sensible script that has a high level of depth. The basis of machine generated content is to shorten the entire creation process and provide some level of inspiration so it can be tweaked and perfected with some human touch. In no way, is technology ready to be used mindlessly as there are still some tweaking that has to be done. AI Writer and CopyAI are only able to produce the basic components of an article but it is up to the writer to make the final alterations.
For many, this process may limit creative freedom but for others this is a perfect entry point to get into the art of writing. Botnik may be used to come up with an original story which will most possibly feel like a fever dream but honestly most kids cartoon shows these days are the equivalent to an acid trip. We are slowly becoming more accustomed to disconnected forms of entertainment that make virtually no sense, we enjoy the wacky and bizarre as it is viewed as quirky. The current generation are able to find a deeper meaning from virtually anything so a rubbish screenplay may just appeal to the masses.
Musical Creation
Artificial intelligence has managed to creep its way into the music industry and whilst technology has long existed in this field, it is still quite uncommon to use predictable algorithmic changes in music. Soundraw.io is a powerful tool for music production and it is able to manipulate sounds by decomposing already existing melodies to fill in the gaps. Copyright free music is also something many people look for and AI is able to produce that for any projects that are required. Ecrettmusic is able to create the unique sounds that are required by creators and since copyright is a huge issue, it makes sense to use computer generated sounds to avoid the hassle.
Artificial intelligence is able to emulate amazing symphonies from the works of popular composers. When messing with classical music, more people question the authenticity of such sound and whether or not computer generated music can even be considered a symphony. The argument may still stand that music is ultimately just code and algorithms can soon emulate musical code. Amper is a brilliant program that is able to create variations of previous compositions to come up with what can be considered original pieces of art.
Aiva is capable of composing emotional soundtrack music and aiding as a creative tool for professional musicians through the use of pre set algorithms. AI music may not be the future of music as the human aspects is what makes a symphony beautiful in the end. However, AI can pump out numerous pieces in a short time span making it easier to commercialize music for the masses and this is where the main appeal lies. Computer generated sounds have long existed but computer interactive composition technology is still quite new and may take some more time to become mainstream.
Full Takeover
Machine learning isn’t at a stable stage to fully develop original content just yet but it is only a matter of time before such content is normalized. For now robots are still figuring out the essence of what makes human content so enjoyable and once an algorithm is built to condense it all down, people probably wont be able to differentiate AI content from regular content. We have come so far in the field of technology to the point where science and arts are finally colliding and this opens up whole new job opportunities in the industry.
This can be seen as a direct attack on the artistic communities and the people who work in it but artificial intelligence has seeped into pretty much every industry so it was only a matter of time before this happened. The future of content consumption is just around the corner and the prospects are both alarming and exciting at the same time. VTubers or virtual streamers are already a thing and as bizarre as these things seem, these subcultures are slowly growing to appeal to the masses.
Maybe the Mona Lisa will soon be forgotten and replaced by the scribbles of a robot, only time can tell. Clearly people aren’t afraid to experiment in this field and more innovation is being made each day. Small changes are already implemented in our daily life so the full transition won’t be so jarring. Human based art forms may just be a thing of the past but it’s going to be a painful pill to swallow when we find out that AI can take over even the imaginative and creative aspects that we as humans hold so dear to our heart.
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