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Article: How Will A.I. Change Art? - Parts 1-3
Note: This series was originally published as The Space Age Oracle on X in 2023.
Part 1: How Will A.I. Change Art?
The legal battles raging between Hollywood and upper-level writers and artists are a different battle than what you and I are probably concerned with. Whether or not they get compensation isn't going to benefit most of the artistic community selling stuff on Etsy or eBay, indie music, etc.
For example, do you want a new front room? Don't hire a designer; have the A.I. program give you hundreds of ideas within the budget and where to get the items (or even order for you). Are you a young filmmaker who needs a soundtrack? Just feed the program your script (written by A.I.) and have it create the perfect music. Now the Talking Heads of Tech will thump their chests and proclaim that the software will have proper safeguards, and only regulated copies will be allowed, abuse will be minimal, and so on. This is the type of spin we all heard when people had concerns about online banking.
The legal issues will be straightened out, mainstream companies will follow the law, and copyright issues will be settled, at least to the satisfaction of businesses and the upper tier of artists. Even upper-tier artists who get compensated will find that their audiences might shrink once people can have A.I. give them similar art.
Most of the art we buy is street level. Most of us can't afford Picassos or have Taylor Swift sing at a wedding. You have a budget, and there's generally an artist that can do the job. Aspiring artists need these levels. That's where all of them get their start on the way to hopefully becoming a star.
So far, much of the press has been from analyst opinions, artists, and A.I. companies. The opinion that counts is those of future customers. What do they think about A.I., and what would they do with it? The opinion leaders have put out a lot of speculation and scare stories about killer bots. Still, some smarter ones say the uncomfortable truth: that the customers will replace human beings. Not maybe, but as soon as the A.I. can do it.
As far as the good?
Despite complaints about spell and grammar checks, writers have benefitted from it at the expense of editing companies. Almost all indie book covers are designed by artists using software that automates design and execution at the expense of artists who work on canvas and paper. Indies use a variety of software to create and distribute art and market it at the expense of many designers, copywriters, sound engineers, producers, and so on.
Or...would these Indies even exist if they had to pay that considerable support structure?
We know the harm A.I. can do to the art community. The question is, will it create the same opportunity it did for Indies in the last few years? In other words, can it lead to an explosion of new artists like Indie writers after Amazon KDP and software made it possible to become a published writer without the expensive approval and support structure?
Is what we think is art changing, and is A.I. part of that?
I've said in past blog entries that technology drives much of the change in art. I'm hardly the first and won't be the last to say it. Rock and roll would have been different without electric guitars, as with the 80s without electronic keyboards and synthesizers. Those instruments allowed artists to create new sounds, primarily for young, upcoming artists.
In other words, is the fight over A.I. actually a struggle by old-school artists and sensibilities about change? Is A.I. a new technology that will be embraced by a young generation already going full blast on social media, and will it be their electric guitar or home computer?
Part 2: How Will A.I. Change Art?
Note: I'm sure you'll notice this series isn't a structured article delivered in parts. I'm exploring the subject like many others are.
The problem with A.I. "scraping" isn't that the output is derivative. Humans scrape all the time. The entire education process is based on studying data, sound, and images already created.
The problem of counterfeit books, like those that purported to be written by authors such as Jane Freidman, which were recently taken down off Amazon, is the age-old problem of bootlegging rearing its head again.The Rock Music Industry is a good example. The first known rock bootleg is said to have been "The Great White Wonder," a collection of demos by Bob Dylan and the Band, which was released later as "The Basement Tapes." There's a lot of history to that bootleg, and it's worth researching on the Internet, but I'll stick to the narrower point of it being the quasi-official start of that illegal Industry.
The early vinyl bootlegs tended to be a limited release, as even with some pressing equipment becoming more accessible, most had to be slipped through a legitimate pressing plant under a fake title. Bootlegging was always a corruption issue, also. Tape and, later on, C.D.s made the process of stealing music easier, as anybody could buy the equipment, and in the present, digital recording has automated the process so a bootleg can be easily distributed worldwide, virtually without cost.
In the case of A.I.-generated art, it's not as simple as being a mean old computer app that steals stuff. It's a tool, and any unethical use is due to humans with the same mentality as bootleggers.The music bootleg was a product that enabled the seller to skip the stages (and expense) of creation, performance, and manufacture.
Almost every artist starts off as a beginner, which generally means studying and being influenced by previous works. Thanks to the sources like the Internet and mass media (and not because of it), that process produces results that can be seen as original, derivative, or copies and identified as such.
An example would be music. A group like Fleetwood Mac started as a Blues group, developed a style of its own, then went through stages to become major rock and pop stars.
A.I. not only has the potential to steal a lot of the established chain of talent to produce art but adds the troubling dimension of assimilating lesser-known work. As said in previous entries, the latter can derail the careers of new artists who find their efforts incorporated into an A.I. work.
One could say that A.I. could steal much of an artistic genre's future and be a boon to bootleggers. The potential for exploitation is immense as no matter what anyone says, A.I. is a product of human labor and talent (and greed).
As a matter of disclosure, some of you might wonder why I've moved my blog to X. I moved it due to the controversy over Elon Musk and Reddit limiting access to the API by A.I. companies.
Many here may not like Musk, but the body of my work is at least a little safer from scraping on a site that limits access, and while not perfect, the process of restricting access via restrictions and cost is on the right side of the debate on A.I. scraping.
The issue is complex, and there will be a lot of discussion, so my opinions here are only one voice in the debate.
I think the current generation of new artists will use A.I. more and more and will have to navigate the intricate web of laws and entrenched attitudes to find their potential. Every new technology has and will be abused, but has resulted in new art or advances a genre into a new future.
In part 3, I'll talk about new art forms created by social networks like Tik Tok and YouTube, which are rooted in the older television age.
Part 3: New Art Forms
I talked about new art forms that could emerge from the new A.I. era, and honestly, I don't know what that will be.
If I did, I'd probably be wrong, looking in the wrong direction, mistaken for a press agent trying to hype an artist or an egotistical self-promoter if I'm talking about my art (which is permissible under the sacred commandments of selling art to the public).
When the first Cave Persons saw a stick and colored clay, it didn't occur to them that drawing and painting could evolve from those objects.
However, there is a way to see where that new art may come from and who will do it.
One way is to remember the 60s. Uh, that is if you're a Boomer. The rest of you will know it as "ancient times."
At first, the mainstream called boomer music "hippie music," "noise," drug music," and the musicians and fans described as "stoned dirty and smelly long-haired freaks." The Boomers returned the compliment by calling their elders "the establishment," "warmongers," and "hypocrites" and declared that they had no interest in "becoming part of the system," at least until they got past draft age and had to start paying bills.
This cycle repeated when Boomer artists became rich and famous and began to trash-talk Punk and Disco, whose adherents were happy to return the favor. Life is a circle, as they say. So, one clue as to where the next generation of artists who'll create new art forms is to find a group or subculture that the mainstream depicts as young idiots engaging in silly or antisocial antics that make sensible adults shake their heads.
Well, we don't need to look any further than our smartphones, which is good because we hate having to look up from our screens.
One of the places where new art is coming from is social media, particularly sites like TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, or wherever the young hang out. They enjoy the requisite disdain of their elders, so it's a promising area to look.
From an artist's perspective, plenty of interesting stuff is going on.
One form that's emerged is the 15-second video, or "short." That's been around for decades in advertising but is now a staple in social media and relatively new. It bears watching where it can go (or not; it may already be mainstream and boring). As an old fart, my impression is that it's sort of a modern offshoot of photography. It's a captured moment but in live motion. The aesthetics are similar, though I'm sure some photographers might disagree.
I'll go more into social media forms in a later entry, but there's a more controversial example of media that A.I. is revolutionizing, and it's creating the same combination of anger, fear, concern, and controversy that rock and roll and Punk did in their early stages.
I'm talking about "deep-fakes," which have enormous potential and capability to harm, present possibilities that could upend media industries like Hollywood, are already being used in legitimate and illegal projects, and are very controversial.
The concept of deep fakes has been around for centuries, but A.I. appears to be taking it to a new level of potential and fearsome abuse. However, there's no question that it'll be part of the media and the artistic scene now and in the future. There's an adage that the press is generally late in covering a new trend or phenomenon, so it's safe to assume that what we see and hear about deep fakes isn't the cutting edge.
It's a complex subject, so I'll devote an entire entry or two to it in future entries.
- Al HANDA
July 31, 2023
