Weird Studies/Patreon/AI

31 Jul 2023 - 31 Jul 2023

AI is putting us all in the position of classical musicians – Weird Studies/Glass Bead Game ref

I'm a bit surprised how much territory they are willing to yield to AI, like they seem to accept it will replace human artists. That it is real intelligence.

As a techie, I am kind of surprised by how much intellectual territory you art guys are willing to yield to AI. Not to go off on a long rant, but the current generation of AIs are very capable but also very superficial, literally so – they are great at manipulating surfaces, but have not even a pretension to depth of thought or feeling. They are taking existing works and manipulating and remixing their surfaces, which is not nothing but it is not close to a good model of what humans do. So whatever they generate, clever or impressive as it may seem, it is not fulfilling any of the real functions of art as I understand it. AI might threaten artistic livelihoods, but without a lot more development it doesn't actually pose a threat to art itself, IMO.

Also the discussion at the end made me think of the book Free Play by Stephen Nachmanovitch, on improvisation as the basis for art and life. Recommended.