Humanity as art: Is a new age of randomness our saviour from artificial intelligence?
Limbo is real, and we are in it. Art currently finds itself locked within a tech-infused hypothetical, one that sees us stare the death of culture in the face… if worst comes to worst. It seems that in the face of progression, culture dies. Guitar strings rust, paint brushes gather dust, and the DJ is a dead man. As artificial intelligence continues to develop and is used more frequently in art, copywriting and music, we are left teetering on the edge of collapse. The very nature of authenticity is at risk of extermination.
What makes an artist an artist? The work. It is not the product but the years spent perfecting their craft, the humanity of missed notes, poor lyrics and pencil strokes. Hayao Miyazaki is an artist, and his work is a reflection of the decades put into meticulously hand-crafting emotional and beautiful stories. And now you can recreate those years in seconds.
Can we use AI in art if it means John Lennon and George Harrison (even if for just a moment) are still alive? If so, where does it stop? Let us make new songs using the vocals of Amy Winehouse, Kurt Cobain and Prince. Let’s have David Bowie and Cardi B collaborate. Let’s have Biggie and Jack Harlow go bar for bar. Do the artists have to be dead, or can they just be dying? If someone’s voice has gone, why can’t we bring it back? If their hands don’t work like they used to, let’s fix them. I want Banksy to design my business card. I want Charles Bukowski to write my wedding invites. Let’s have the Sex Pistols do the theme song for the big banks while we’re at it.
Yes, as we face the end, the possibilities are endless, and with them comes whatever the artistic equivalent of being unable to produce dopamine is. AI-generated content has become the new form of cocaine, with nothing off limits. Artists are brought back to life, their work is copied, and art, no matter how groundbreaking, begins to feel robotic and stale. How do humans adapt?
A new age of randomness could be on the brink. If, over the next decade, things continue as they currently are, with brands, studios, and artists all using AI to make content, and nothing feels sacred anymore, how will art continue to evoke feeling? The answer could lie less in the quality of the final product and more in how expected or unexpected it may be. It draws upon the work, a focus on the time that goes into making something as opposed to the thing made, and a focus on humanity.
If one of the main things that we begin to look for in art is humanity, then the recreation of things only humans are capable of could land themselves at the heart of every piece made in a post-AI world. People will want to be shocked by key changes, tempo changes, alternating art forms, and design styles all taking precedence over something looking or sounding good. The craft and the emotion become more important than the actual finished product.
As we are locked in a hypothetical, the future of different art forms hangs in the balance. However, if AI continues on this trajectory, and the entire artistic world is opened up to the average person as a result, any emotional attachment we have towards things created will fray. People who design this software say they want to enhance what people are capable of, and they certainly achieve that. But they also nullify the power of these different artistic mediums to which people are granted access. How can we ever be truly impressed by something we can replicate in seconds? We’re not impressed by someone who can use spellcheck or plug and unplug an HDMI lead, and yet this is what art will become equivalent to as software makes it so that masterpieces can be generated in seconds.
People will read this and think I’m exaggerating, but I’m truly worried. I don’t know what the future of art looks like; I don’t know how I will be able to tell the difference between something with genuine emotion and effort put into it compared to someone who has run an image of a dog through a Basquiat generator. What feeling is left to give art when art is no longer created from feeling?
Randomness could be the answer. What an artist does, what their craft is, all of it completely goes out of the window. Instead, people will get excited about being surprised by something. Something where they can say, “This is so devoid of any kind of logic that it has to have been created by a human.” No code can come up with an incomprehensible mess. Therefore, is that what awaits the artistic world?
Here is one strand from the hypothetical web we currently find ourselves in. There are others, but a new age of randomness, one that sees artists impossible to label, feels appropriate. It is unclear whether it will generate the same feelings we get now from art or merely be a reminder that human artists exist. Yeah, John Lennon was taken before his time, but maybe he should stay dead for art to truly retain its meaning.
