AI is a trending topic of conversation at the moment. Writers fear ChatGPT and social media have been awash with pictures generated by artificial intelligence. While computers replacing mechanical processes seems inevitable, the connection between art and what makes us human, being replicated by machines, brings a new level of consciousness that is a scary prospect. So, what creative areas is AI replacing, and how will it work out?
Writing
The most obvious of these is the aforementioned ChatGPT by Open AI. However, by no means is it the only program on the market. A host of alternatives from major players, like Google and Bing, are also available. They work by trawling the web and creating an answer or solution to text-based prompts. You may ask it to tell you how to plumb in a tap, for example, or to write a song in the style of Beyoncé.
The acute representation of writing styles makes artists most fearful of technology. PIA reported that in a survey of users, most people struggled to identify quotes written by AI from those written by a host of legendary authors. Just over 51% of people could not identify a real literary quote from AI replicating ones by authors like Mary Shelley and J.R.R. Tolkien. Of course, the counter-argument is that these authors are so good because of their unique writing styles, thus making them easy to replicate regardless when compared to other authors.
Art
Currently, the most popular of these has been Midjourney. It trawls a huge database of images taken from the web, which it uses to create pictures from text-based prompts. If you have ever wondered what Pikachu would look like, drawn in the style of the Impressionists, or if you want to see Taylor Swift in a 1940s film noir movie, your dreams have come true.
Ethical questions arise when it manages to mimic the styles of particular artists. It may create an image in the style of a particular comic book artist, for instance, depending on the given prompt. If you are the artist, your unique take on your medium is being plagiarized. The argument for this is that all styles are an amalgamation of things that have gone before. Other people and artists can copy it, so why is AI doing it a big problem?
Music
Music seems to have been the last bastion of art forms that AI could penetrate. But it has, and it has not just done it by synthesizing music theory and its mathematical structures. AI can now replicate voice, including ranges, tones, and inflections. You only need to listen to ‘Heart on My Sleeve,’ a viral smash, using the AI-generated music of Drake and The Weeknd to create a fictional collaboration. Even indie superstars Oasis recently got new, AI-generated music to work with.
So, what does this mean for artists?
On the one hand, it could mean fewer jobs for those who regularly produce the nuts-and-bolts art pieces society uses. Graphic designers and those who create soundtracks may all find work dries up. But it could also spark creativity. With AI taking what it wants from pre-existing works, art could be ready for what it needs: People striving to be unique.