Me, Myself & AI - Art in An Artificial Age

It was fashionable for a while to create and make things, and it seemed to serve humanity well, for a time at least. It now appears, however, that the tide has turned and the “real” making is to be “money”. The generation, control and exploitation of our artificial future is as appealing to oligarchs and corporations as it is to governments, profit and power before people – which only leads to corruption, and eventual collapse for the many.

These artificial, or virtual, worlds are populated with “pixels” which are predictably for sale; where imaginary coins are so-called mined and traded; where “art” is churned out by algorithms – minted into the digital hallucinations of Non Fungible Tokens (NFT’s); bathing us in the glow of coded not created AI imagery. Meanwhile, the vast power demands of these fantastic constructions are increasingly fuelling real wars over dwindling resources, where real people are suffering and worse.

Predictably (and we’ll come back to the future – in a moment), even the term Artificial Intelligence is in itself an artifice – a cunning, crafty or devious device. Artificial used to mean “belonging to art” or skill or craft, whereas intelligence is still understood to define, well… understanding or comprehension. AI’s guileful and reductive “intelligence” meshes perfectly with our predominant cultural aspirations of efficient production and consumption, it is a mechanism for more – of the same.

Spoiler alert: an AI may disagree with me on this – ask one if you care to find out, but I’ll bet you get a surprisingly diplomatic reply.

What makes AI seem intelligent is its mastery of language. And because we humans equate language with thought, we’re quick to credit it with something it doesn’t actually possess: understanding. We’re mistaking fluent mimicry for mindful reasoning.

AI is a pattern seeking machine. Feed it enough data, and it can remix, re-assemble, and repackage patterns in ways that may seem novel. But ask it to imagine something that hasn’t already been imagined by someone else, or ask it to venture into the unknown and it falters. AI doesn’t generate original insight – it iterates, reflecting back echoes of what it’s already seen. It isn’t creative or conscious but recursive.

And that’s the crux of it: intelligence isn’t imitation. It’s much nearer to invention and innovation. And for all its impressive tricks, AI still lacks three things that makes human creativity so powerful – imagination, our capacity for ethical action, and wisdom. AI doesn’t possess the first, and as for ethics and wisdom – these will perhaps be the source of AI dreams when a conscious AI is created, but until then …

For now, though, we project our values and biases onto it; AI’s “intelligence” is a figment of our imagination. As a consequence AI plays very human roles: for some, it’s a digital saviour; to others, the end of days; and for many, it’s just another unasked for technological tool. I’m arguing here that AI is not yet an inventor of originality – in other words, a creator in any substantive way that makes a difference.

So, to the big question – just asking for a friend: will AI be the downfall of the creative arts, or the end of my/our way of life or culture for that matter? No – at least not yet. We have much more to fear from the imagination of so-called “intelligent” humans; that remains the bigger threat for now.

Cui Bono, who benefits? This is a question with considerable power of prediction – especially the future, as the saying goes. What informed humans (those who ask better questions) are also rather good at, is intuiting patterns of social control and coercion. So, when yet another over-hyped and unwanted technological distraction is forced upon us, we sense a zero sum game is afoot, and once again our humanity is likely to be significantly the worse for it.

As a final thought, the Stoics would remind us to be indifferent to that which makes no difference – this is a call to arms not an excuse to shrug our shoulders. We must commit to finding distinctions between what matters and what doesn’t, what makes a difference and what does not – for ourselves.

AI is a highly complex and powerful instrument, devoid of ethical considerations. It is a means corrupting an end. Authentic creativity is a profoundly human expression, one which distinguishes us – it is a difference that makes a difference. The essence of creativity will matter more not less as we reflect on the banality of machines that mimic us, as we mistake one part of the truth for the whole of the story – yet again.