Over the last couple of months, we have seen the rise of Artificial Intelligence in the media and how it's impacted creativity.
At first, I tested out AI with an app called Lensa, which warped my face into different art forms like movie posters, anime, paintings, anything at random as part a trend. Some examples below:
At the time, I thought it was cool. Thinking that a computer can capture my face and generate art just from me typing in a single word. Millions of possibilities in a matter of minutes.
I later noticed the power of AI in different types of media including music, movies, photography and art. One example was the song "I Feel It Coming" by The Weeknd sung by Michael Jackson, created with AI. The King of Pop had been dead for over 7 years before the Weeknd released his "Starboy" album.
Check out the comparison here:
It has come to a point in the evolution of technology where we don't need a specific person to be alive, be a certain age or to be recorded to recreate their voice and face. An example of this is actor James Earl Jones. He has given permission for his voice to be AI generated for future Star Wars projects (even after he has passes away) involving his iconic robotic Darth Vader voice. How does AI do this? There is tons of audio recordings of James Earl Jones as Darth Vader from the Star Wars Saga, all that was needed was to mash up audio files together and AI would create a voice using the audio archives.
Here is a clip of Darth Vader from Star Wars Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, voiced by James Earl Jones.
And here is a clip of Darth Vader from the Kenobi series on Disney +, voice generated by AI:
Another example of AI being used is this YouTube channel called Clone Talk. They have recreated Kevin Conroy's iconic Batman voice to convey supportive messages to the listener about certain topics, like dealing with depression, loneliness, heartbreak and overcoming anxiety. Kevin Conroy had voiced Batman since 1992 in numerous animated TV shows, movies and video games, to most people he was the definitive Batman. He passed away on 10th of November 2022 and to most people, rehearing his voice again, even if it's AI generated, would be wholesome.
AI Kevin Conroy's Batman Talk About The Psychology of Fear:
AI has also helped films and TV shows by de-aging older actors. With film archives capturing actors in their prime, it allows AI to generate a complete restoration of an older actors' face and voice, making them look and sound younger.
Multiple examples of this is Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci in The Irishman, Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in The Mandalorian and most recently Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Trailer:
While this technology is amazing and would never be possible years ago, we have also seen negative side from AI.
I saw on the news last month that a Berlin based photographer Boris Eldagsen won but rejected the prestigious Sony World Photography Award after admitting the photograph was created using AI. He said the reason he submitted the photograph was to create a discussion about the future of photography.
Here is the award winning AI photograph titled "Pseudomnesia: The Electrician"
After as photographer myself, I felt attacked that something like this happened, submitting a piece of work that was not your own. He admitted in a statement that AI is not photography and therefore rejected the award.
I feel the difference between AI and art is the human imagination and the artist behind it. By using AI to create something new, strips the soul of the work. Imagine Van Gogh's Starry Night was made with AI? The painting would be there but the effort and passion would be nowhere to be seen. Why bother create something when a computer can do it for me.
This way of the thinking has caused some major activity overseas in America at the moment. The WGA (The Writers Guild of America) has begun a strike after talks broke down with major studios and streamers. Screenwriters in Hollywood (Disney, Netflix, Apple, Paramount, Sony and other production companies) have walked off the job causing current films, movies and tv shows to hault production on current projects. It's the first time screenwriters have on strike in 15 years.
One of the reasons they're on strike is the threat of AI. One fear is that studios and streamers will soon try to cut costs further by outsourcing script development and screenwriting to AI.
Us human beings who created characters like Tony Soprano, Captain Kirk and Walter White say something fundamental will be lost if Hollywood allows itself to become a wasteland of AI-generated stories.
After expressing both sides of the argument for artificial intelligence, I will leave this blog with a quote from Jurassic Park between Dr Ian Malcolm to John Hammond when Malcom says his opinion on John genetically creating Dinosaurs.
"Dr. Ian Malcolm : If I may... Um, I'll tell you the problem with the scientific power that you're using here, it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you even knew what you had, you patented it, and packaged it, and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now you're selling it.
John Hammond : I don't think you're giving us our due credit. Our scientists have done things which nobody's ever done before...
Dr. Ian Malcolm : Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn't stop to think if they should."
Like many uses of technology, it's not the technology that is the problem, it's the use of it. Will there be those that seek to exploit AI for personal gain? I have no doubt. However, it also brings advantages. It does automate repetitive tasks. For example, using ChatGP to draft letters of response or even information reports. Those that are generated by AI need to be checked by someone with knowledge (there is some rubbish that ChatGP comes up with) but drafting is the boring bit. The skill is in the edit, and the final copy. Even the photography contest is interesting. Sure it wasn't captured by a camera. But it's still art. It's still an image. Did the photogrpaher…