Expressions of Creativity : The Introduction of Artificial Intelligence

As a writer, I am struck with the capacities and opportunities that Artificial intelligence is currently giving us and the promise of what it can do for humanity in the future. But behind the shiny new creations and data producing robots, there may be a more sinister entrapment that we need to consider. I am not a conspiracy theorist, nor do I think that Artificial intelligence is here to ‘take over’ the universe. I think AI has its’ place in our current reality and in our future reality. It’s here to stay. One could argue, it’s been here for quite some time. With that, I must consider the sinister underlying nature of how it will affect my own creativity and my ability to absorb other creative expressions.

I asked ChatGPT to write me a poem in regards to my my dog who chews everything and is a Labrador puppy. The artificial intelligence simulator came up with something that was very well written, an easy read, and fun to engage in. I laughed when I read it, painfully aware of how ‘accurate’ it was in the description of what our dog does. The poem was written with good rhythm as well as grammar and punctuation.

It’s a fun poem. But what will access to these tools do to our creative spark as humans? And how will we absorb the creative genius of others differently now that AI is in the mix?

Our Own Creativity May be Stunted

Prior to the ability to have Artificial intelligence think for us, content creators were using their minds, skills, and creative juices to create music, books, illustration, paintings, drawings, cartoons, and all sorts of beautiful art. With the arrival of AI, I wonder if some of these content creators will find themselves with tools that will stunt the creativity that they possess. They will be able to manipulate the AI using their creativity, to produce the product that they would have created themselves, but AI will water down the substance of what is in the art. Creatives will find themselves with the capacity to ‘mass produce’ their artwork, thus giving them the ability to reach a broader audience with far more content then they could ever produce as an individual. But if all creative thinkers are using AI as a means to an end, wouldn’t that give us an indistinguishable product? Much like we see in the ‘big box’ consumer stores, where all of the lamps look the same from store to store, even though the franchise name is different, will we begin to experience an overlap in creativity as content creators fail to access the deeply individual and unique parts of their brain where information is stored and art flows from?

Could it be that as a culture, we will begin to slowly accept, and then expect the standardization of artwork and creative content? If much of the creative collective is accessing a specific AI system to mass produce their art, won’t it all begin to look, feel, smell, and taste the same? If that is indeed the future, I don’t know that this is a valuable advancement of our unique ability as a culture to create individual patterns that are specific to a person.

So, what will the answer be? Some of the most talented and bright young minds in our creative collective will undoubtedly push back against the standardization of the industry as it relates to AI. They will not want to ‘use’ the system for their own gain, trading in their ability for mass production. They will find themselves still micro producing whatever content they are enamored with. But over time, I think we will see more and more of our creative collective access AI as a means to an end, of profit.

If you look back to the middle to late 90’s in the music industry, you find major record labels becoming monopolies for artists to ‘make it big’ on the stage. They offered marketing, venues, shows, and record labels on albums, as long as the artist produced the types of art that the record label was looking for. Essentially, the record companies owned not only the creation, but also the creator. It was during this time that we saw multiple major artists become part of the “Independent” crowd. They were essentially their own representation, marketing strategists, CD and music mixers and producers, but what came with it was artistic freedom in their expression. They didn’t have to bow to the Label companies demands that they produce a certain type or quantity of art, and they were able to express their own artistry in a way that best reflected them.

We may see a similar phenomena with AI.

I should stop here and say that I don’t think that there is anything inherently wrong with artificial intelligence. We have been using it for decades to improve the quality of life. Most of us carry around a physical version of artificial intelligence in our pockets, as we handle our smart phones. How we respond to the production of AI, and how our content is manipulated by AI, is an important question to continue to ask, moving forward.

Our Ability to Decipher Creativity may be Stifled

The amount of textual data that one can consume on the internet is unreal. You can search a phrase, a paragraph, or a word and come up with millions of articles, websites, books, and advertisements to immerse yourself in. These have been created primarily by human authors over the last 40 years, since the inception of the internet. Because AI has now made it’s appearance as a content creator, the amount of textual data that we will have access to will expand and fill any void that we didn’t even know was there. Every person that is trying to monetize their corner of the internet will use AI to produce the content that is on the page, the images that you see when looking through websites, and even the marketing tactics that might draw you the page to begin with will be produce by AI.

Can we decipher what is human created and what is AI created? We may be able to, currently, as we have laws in place that demand copyrights and attributing credit where the credit is due. But if AI floods the written word with content, these laws will either need to be changed or tossed. We will no longer be able to attribute the written word to an individual (unless typing into ChatGPT a prompt is authorship) rather we will begin to have to decipher what was written by human creativity and what was written by AI. Will AI have a copyright?

When we read textual exchanges, how do we know if this is data that has been contrived of the pooling of internet resources, or the idea of a specific individual? I would guess that we will have a harder and harder time deciphering the difference. The creative genius of humanity will be blended with the incredibly powerful tool of collective pooling of resource and AI will begin to look very creative to our stifled minds.

The question that I am asking, is if this is a good thing or a bad thing or not a thing?

It’s good to have resources to make our quality of life better, but it’s a bad thing if our minds continue to erode, decay, and are not engaged with other brilliant minds that are creating individual, unique content. If AI develops to the point that it can literally create something out of nothing like the human mind seems to be able to do, this would be a non issue, but as best as I can tell, AI will always have to draw on a formerly existing pool of resource to produce its content moving forward. This will limit the creative collection potential that currently exists with humans creating content.

AI May Catch us Off Guard – A conclusion

In conclusion, there are a lot of unknown impacts that AI may have on our future reality. One thing I know for certain, creative thinkers have a clear choice that they will need to make prior to engaging the tools of AI. Will they protect their art, their own unique expressions? Or will they choose to engage the ability to mass produce fragments of their imagination using the AI tools that are being developed and are currently available.

At the end of my writing of this post, I asked Chat GPT to write “a short Essay telling us how AI will stunt creativity in humanity.” Maybe it is on to something. Here is what it spit out.

AI is a rapidly growing field that is changing the way we interact with technology and the world around us. However, while AI has many benefits, it can also have negative effects on human creativity.

One way that AI may stunt creativity in humanity is by replacing human creativity with machine-generated content. For example, AI can now create music, art, and even literature. While this may be impressive, it can also lead to a lack of originality and uniqueness in the creative arts. If AI-generated content becomes the norm, it may limit the diversity of artistic expression and reduce the opportunities for new and innovative ideas to emerge.

Moreover, as AI algorithms become more advanced, they may be used to predict and even prescribe creative content, limiting the potential for serendipitous discoveries and spontaneous innovation. The reliance on algorithms to dictate what is considered creative may also lead to a loss of the human element in creative endeavors.

Another way that AI may stunt creativity is by reducing the need for creative thinking in certain areas. For example, as AI advances, it may be able to automate tasks that once required creative thinking, such as problem-solving, decision-making, and strategy development. This may lead to a decrease in the demand for creative thinkers, limiting the opportunities for individuals to develop and apply their creativity in meaningful ways.

In conclusion, while AI has many benefits, it also has the potential to stunt creativity in humanity. As we continue to integrate AI into our lives and work, it is important to consider the impact that AI may have on creativity and take steps to ensure that the human element of creativity is not lost. Ultimately, we must strike a balance between the benefits of AI and the preservation of human creativity to ensure a thriving future for both technology and humanity.

I asked StarryAi to produce an “illustrated photo of artificial intelligence.” This is the feature image to this blog. Very Creative.