RELUCTANCE
IT’S FUNNY TO THINK BACK ON ALL THE TIMES HUMANITY TREMBLED AT THE THOUGHT OF NEW TECHNOLOGY CHANGING CREATIVE EXPRESSION. TYPEWRITERS, FOR EXAMPLE, WERE ONCE VIEWED AS ROBOTIC LITTLE BOXES THAT COULDN’T POSSIBLY CAPTURE THE FLUIDITY AND SOUL OF A WRITER’S PEN ON PAPER. WHEN PERSONAL COMPUTERS CAME ALONG, SOME CREATIVES FEARED THEY'D END UP SACRIFICING THE TANGIBLE, MESSY FEEL OF DRAFTING IDEAS WITH THEIR OWN HANDS. THERE WAS A BELIEF THAT TECHNOLOGY WOULD ERASE THAT PERSONAL, ALMOST SACRED, HUMAN TOUCH FROM THE PROCESS OF CREATING. AND NOW WE FIND OURSELVES HERE, LOOKING AT AI, A TECHNOLOGY WITH ABILITIES THAT GO BEYOND ANYTHING THAT’S COME BEFORE, STIRRING UP THOSE SAME FEARS IN NEW FORMS. WE WONDER: WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR OUR CREATIVITY IF ALGORITHMS CAN ALSO WRITE, PAINT, COMPOSE? IT’S AS IF BY GIVING PART OF OUR CRAFT OVER TO MACHINES, WE RISK LOSING SOME CORE OF OURSELVES, OUR SPONTANEITY, OUR AUTHENTICITY, THE VERY ESSENCE OF BEING AN ARTIST. AND YET, AS THE YEARS GO BY, WE’VE SEEN PLENTY OF CREATIVES NOT ONLY ACCEPT BUT EMBRACE THE TOOLS THAT ONCE SEEMED LIKE THREATS. MUSICIANS NOW USE SOFTWARE LIKE PRO TOOLS TO ADD LAYERS OF DEPTH AND DETAIL TO THEIR SOUNDSCAPES THAT ANALOG COULDN’T QUITE CAPTURE. PHOTOGRAPHERS TRANSFORM THEIR IMAGES WITH A SPECTRUM OF DIGITAL EDITS, MANIPULATING CONTRAST OR COLOR TO EVOKE EMOTIONS AND MEANINGS THAT THE RAW IMAGE ALONE COULDN’T. FOR EACH OF THESE ARTISTS, TECHNOLOGY DOESN’T REPLACE THEIR VISION; IT BECOMES A NEW BRUSH IN THEIR TOOLKIT, AN ENABLER OF IDEAS THAT, BEFORE, WERE JUST OUT OF REACH. BUT, NATURALLY, THERE ARE THOSE WHO HESITATE. TO THEM, CREATIVITY IS TOO DEEPLY, TOO INTIMATELY HUMAN TO BE SHARED WITH ANYTHING THAT ISN’T ALIVE, THAT DOESN’T FEEL, THAT DOESN’T KNOW THE WEIGHT OF MAKING SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL FROM NOTHING. IN THE END, THOUGH, IT’S NOT SO MUCH ABOUT WHETHER WE SHOULD USE AI IN OUR CREATIVE WORK BUT HOW WE CHOOSE TO DO IT. MAYBE IT’S LIKE AN OLD FRIEND WHO CAN HELP US EXPERIMENT, GUIDING US TO THOSE UNCHARTED TERRITORIES WE MIGHT HAVE SKIPPED OVER ON OUR OWN. IF WE THINK OF AI AS A KIND OF PARTNER, HELPFUL, BUT NOT A REPLACEMENT, IT HAS THE POWER TO OPEN DOORS TO WHOLE NEW WAYS OF SEEING AND EXPRESSING THE WORLD AROUND US. SO, INSTEAD OF RESISTING, WE MIGHT LOOK AT WHAT THE RIVER OF CREATIVITY CAN DO WITH AN EXTRA STREAM FEEDING INTO IT. HISTORY SHOWS THAT THE ARTIST ALWAYS FINDS A WAY TO KEEP THAT SPARK ALIVE, NO MATTER WHAT TOOLS ARE THROWN INTO THE MIX. IF WE MEET AI WITH CURIOSITY RATHER THAN FEAR, IT MIGHT SURPRISE US, HELPING US PUSH THE BOUNDARIES OF WHAT WE THOUGHT POSSIBLE. BECAUSE IN THE END, EMBRACING THE UNKNOWN HAS ALWAYS BEEN PART OF THE ARTIST’S JOURNEY, A PATH THAT, JUST MAYBE, LETS US TOUCH A PIECE OF SOMETHING TIMELESS.
THE BEAUTY WAY 🌻
