Keep AI Out of the Creative Process
The creative process is something deeply and fundamentally human. It’s that very process, and the stories behind it, which give things life and personality.
Utilising AI programmes to organise a schedule or help with complex equations is one thing. To use it in any “creative” sense, however, is very much another. The creative process is something deeply and fundamentally human. It’s that very process, and the stories behind it, which give things life and personality.
Think of your favourite album or film. Everything that went into making it would have originated through an artist's talent, skill and lived experience. This simply cannot be replicated by generative AI, only imitated. For me, that makes the work it produces completely sterile and uninteresting.
Not everything is a task to be completed; some things are as much about the process as they are the final product. Generative AI is the answer to creativity for people who aren’t creative. Seth Rogan spoke recently about using AI to write, stating, “If your instinct is to use AI and not go through that process. You shouldn’t be a writer, because you’re not writing. Go do something else.”
This month, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences updated its rulebook to specify that only acting “demonstrably performed by humans” and writing “human-authored” will qualify to be nominated for an Oscar. As much as these things should really be a given, it’s still refreshing to see a line drawn by those in a place of creative authority.
Although this issue isn’t just about AI in the making of music or Hollywood films, it also concerns the small, everyday human moments and expressions that we will lose.
Generative AI is increasingly sold to us as “the future” and “inevitable” by fear-mongering enterprises or people trying to convince us to change or be “left behind”. These are often stated as reasons in themselves for its adoption, without any tangible benefits actually being suggested. Which, coincidentally, sounds like an advertisement for every useless product ever made. Despite this, it continues to become more integrated into our society.
We have reached a dangerous crossroads where we are unable to distinguish what’s real from what isn’t. We have to second-guess almost everything. It can be very overwhelming to look around, particularly on the internet and see how much is AI-generated; it’s almost dystopian. I suppose that if there is any positive to be taken, it has made me appreciate the human-made things that much more.
In many creative and adjacent industries, AI usage is becoming a measure of quality. Human craft and a respect for the creative process will signify a more premium product. We are seeing this come into play recently, with Apple posting several behind-the-scenes videos to support campaigns. Ultimately, people appreciate authenticity, and this appreciation will likely increase as the AI problem worsens.
There’s nothing like reaching the end of a project you have put so much thought, time, and effort into, no matter how big or small. As humans, we are meant to find things hard; that’s what makes things rewarding. What happens when you wipe that out, when everything we do is easy?
Leave the creativity to the humans; it’s what we’re good at. Every great film, book, or song has been made by real people, and there’s something special in that.