AI is not fundamentally better than humans. However, a human using AI is better than a human who doesn’t. This is where United4’s motto, “Survival of the fittest,” makes perfect sense: you must learn to use AI to stay ahead.
AI will not destroy jobs, but it will transform them to enable humans to create more value. The creative industries are no exception.
Will Everyone Win a Grammy or a Pulitzer?
Thanks to AI, everyone now has the possibility to create art. Platforms like DALL-E 2 and MuseNet enable users to generate visual and musical compositions with just a few inputs, democratizing the creative process and making high-quality art more accessible than ever before.
Does that mean that everyone will win a Grammy or a Pulitzer?
If an asteroid containing 100,000 tons of gold arrived on Earth, not everyone would become rich, gold would simply lose its value. Similarly, if everyone creates high-quality works using AI, not everyone will win an award.
The number of hit songs or best-selling books is limited by audience attention and preferences. Even with more quality creations from AI, the public can only consume so much.
AI offers powerful tools that allow creators to surpass their usual limits. While AI can facilitate high-quality productions, it doesn’t replace talent, originality, and individual artistic vision.
As Andy Warhol famously said, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” Fame is fleeting and traditional and social media are oversaturated. While AI might enable more people to create noteworthy works, the ephemeral and competitive nature of fame ensures that only a few will achieve lasting recognition.
Beyond Imitation: Innovation
Today, AI is often used to imitate: Shakespeare’s texts sung by Jay-Z’s voice, a painting in Van Gogh’s style, etc. While this is entertaining, it is not where AI’s true value lies for artists. AI will be valued for its ability to foster new forms of originality. AI allows the general public to imitate artists but enables artists to innovate and create new works of art.
For example, artist Sougwen Chung collaborates with an AI-equipped robotic arm named D.O.U.G. The robot mimics the artist’s drawing gestures and vice versa in real time. While they draw, the process is filmed, creating two pieces of art: the final drawing and a ten-minute film of the performance. This slightly literal illustration of human-AI collaboration in art might also be what makes art, art: a mix of the artist’s control and room for interesting accidents. AI can help artists find a balance between the two.
Artists sometimes face the limitation of self-imitation, reproducing their previous works or sticking to what works. AI can help them break this barrier and be even more innovative.
AI: A Tool Among Others in the Artist’s Palette
AI should not be seen as an end in itself, but rather as an additional tool in the artist’s arsenal. Just as a painter uses both traditional brushes and digital techniques, or a musician combines acoustic instruments and production software, AI can enrich the creative process without defining it entirely. AI then becomes a creative partner, offering new perspectives and possibilities while leaving the ultimate control and artistic vision to the artist.
The artist can use their traditional tools, AI, new tech tools, or a combination.
AI and Advertising (and Neuroscience)
The Fear: AI will create ads instead of humans
The Reality: Humans will create more impactful ads with the help of AI
Producing a commercial is expensive. Creating and testing multiple ads to find the best one and throw out the others is impractical. Additionally, testing ads solely with pitches is ineffective since viewers need to project themselves to measure the ad’s true impact.
This is where AI steps in! Advertisers can create multiple ad pitches and use AI to generate corresponding advertisements. These AI-generated ads can then be shown to audiences to test their impact. These ads won’t be perfect; the best one will still need to be produced traditionally. The goal isn’t to have a perfect ad but one that is good enough to be tested with the public.
Using neuroscience tools, the reactions of the volunteers are measured during the airing of different ads. It is then possible to present the client with the results: several pitches, the impact of each, and a recommendation for the best ad to produce. The ad production can then proceed as usual, just as before AI era.
AI and Actors (and Virtual Reality)
The Fear: AI will create avatars and act instead of humans
The Reality: Humans will use AI to better prepare and perform
A key part of an actor’s job is to immerse themselves fully in their character. This immersion often requires a deep understanding of the character’s context, emotions, and environment. AI, combined with virtual reality (VR), can offer powerful tools to facilitate this process.
AI can analyze a script and create an immersive environment that the actor can explore using a VR headset. An actor preparing for a role as a soldier during World War II can wear a VR headset, and be transported to a realistic battlefield with sounds, images, and interactions that allow them to feel the scene’s atmosphere and emotions. This immersion can help the actor understand and feel what their character would experience, enriching their performance.
AI doesn’t just create static environments. The actor can interact with the AI to modify and personalize the environment to fit their needs.
Rehearsals can also benefit from AI. Instead of simple script readings, AI can generate avatars to play other roles, allowing the actor to rehearse scenes more interactively and dynamically.
The Question of Copyright
We are accustomed to hearing about copyright protection for human-created works to prevent their (mis)use by AI without respect for authorship. However, the pending question is also the protection of works created with AI. Few artists today seek to protect works created entirely by AI, as they lack the artist’s personality, which gives the work its uniqueness.
However, if an artist has worked with AI—writing prompts, iterating to develop the work, or selecting the best result—they develop a sense of ownership that requires copyright protection.
The first legislations, in Europe, the USA and China, recognize this right. If the artist can prove their personal impact on the final creation, copyright should apply.
Conclusion
AI is not a threat to creative professions but a significant opportunity. By using AI as a complementary tool, creators can push the boundaries of their art, explore new perspectives, and enrich their creative process.
Creative industries are often at the forefront of adopting new technologies. Additionally, regulatory constraints are less strict in these fields, especially concerning personal data protection, allowing for greater flexibility in integrating AI.