Why Artists Shouldn't Fear AI

By Kirby Ferguson

Special Report:

Creativity & AI

This image was generated using Stable Diffusion Deforum using the prompt “a film photograph of a futuristic metallic cyborg painting on a canvas, a silver robot holding a paint brush, paint splattered everywhere, autochrome color photo, washed out grainy film, 50mm, medium format film, film grain” / Credit: Vincent Romero

“The AI hype inferno is raging out of control right now, and these narratives are just as often utopian as they are dystopian. I’m going to heave a few much-needed buckets of water on this wildfire.”

In 2015, artificial intelligence started doing something strange and magical. It started creating images based on nothing but text input. One of the earliest examples was created from the words “a stop sign is flying in blue skies.” This crude series of images were some of the results:

Outputs from the first modern text-to-image model, alignDRAW

I’m assuming these were the better ones too. They don’t look like much but they are nonetheless awesome. These are new and unique images created from nothing but a simple text description. Before this, software generally behaved in a very linear way. You directed it to do a specific thing and it did precisely that. These balloon images required something more amorphous, something that feels more like thought. This technology came to be known as image generation.

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Since the invention of early automation machines, humans have grappled with the challenge of how to work alongside machines and how to think about the displacement of specialty that often follows their invention. With AI’s expansion into creative fields, questions arise about the uniqueness of human creativity and whether AI is a tool, a rival, or a new collaborator. In this special issue, we set out to explore perspectives from technologists, artists, and experts to understand the comprehensive implications of AI-driven creativity on our future.

Freethink Media, a digital publisher telling stories about the people and ideas moving our world forward to over 20+ million followers, recently released a special issue: Creativity & AI. Each week we will highlight here one of Freethink’s compelling articles or docu-style videos that delves into the influence of AI and its profound impact on our world and society today. Known for captivating content featuring news from the frontiers, Freethink is committed to being a trusted source for exploring the transformative power of AI.