What is the future of human art?

I am very passionate about art (not just mine). My language and attitudes reflect that. I think people who use ai get mad when others refuse to engage with it because they know it's not the same. And I am an artist. A very bad one. But I still take my work seriously enough to have an opinion about it.

I don't get mad when people refuse to engage with it anymore than I would get mad if you didn't want to read one of my stories.
There are all kinds of art people don't care for, you can chose what to look at, listen to, read, etc..
However, I dislike gatekeepers who want to make pronouncements about what is and isn't legitimate based on their own biases and preferences.
 
Putting it into a machine and then manipulating said machine to try and imitate another person's work is stealing.

People read other people's work then try to write like them.
They look at paintings and try to paint like them.
Guitar instructors constantly have students tell them "I want to play like (insert famous guitarist here)".
Is that "stealing"?
 
People read other people's work then try to write like them.
They look at paintings and try to paint like them.
Guitar instructors constantly have students tell them "I want to play like (insert famous guitarist here)".
Is that "stealing"?
No, because they're putting the work and time in. They are not using a computer to enhance their abilities. They are not cheating.
 
"I'll do anything for my stories, even make a pact with the devil at the crossroads if necessary."

I went to AI to receive suggestions on this sentence and got the following:

1. "For my stories, I'd sell my soul at a crossroads, strike a deal with the devil himself."

2. "Even a pact with the devil at the crossroads wouldn't be out of the question for my stories."

3. "Anything. My stories are worth anything, even a pact at the crossroads, a conversation with the dark lord."

I'll likely stick with my original sentence (although "My stories are worth anything, even a pact at the crossroads" sounds good), but does seeking advice from a machine make me a cheater?
Not if you get to keep the golden fiddle.....
 
"I'll do anything for my stories, even make a pact with the devil at the crossroads if necessary."

I went to AI to receive suggestions on this sentence and got the following:

1. "For my stories, I'd sell my soul at a crossroads, strike a deal with the devil himself."

2. "Even a pact with the devil at the crossroads wouldn't be out of the question for my stories."

3. "Anything. My stories are worth anything, even a pact at the crossroads, a conversation with the dark lord."

I'll likely stick with my original sentence (although "My stories are worth anything, even a pact at the crossroads" sounds good), but does seeking advice from a machine make me a cheater?
Damn you. I tried to walk away, but you've sucked me back in...

Maybe "cheating" is to strong of a word. I apologize. I've a very passionate, emotional person and I'm terrible at debating. I really don't want to upset people. I just want you to understand where I'm coming from.

When I am inspired by another person's art (I'm not apologizing for this word choice), I have to sit down and think about it. Process it. Figure out how to include in my own art. Then, I sit down and make an attempt. I am practicing a skill. I am putting forth great mental effort into becoming a better writer.

When you type a prompt into an ai and the little circle swirls and swirls around, generating text, it's doing the thinking, the creating, and the hard work for you. You are skipping a huge part of the creative process. I don't know what word to use to describe that. But I do know it's not writing. The same goes for image generation.

Also, why are you arguing with a stone? You don't like me. My opinion should mean less than dog shit to you.

But I agree that your original sentence is the best. And is the devil in your story ai? I admit I'm intrigued.
 
Photography and painting are completely different skill sets. You can't compare the result of the two.
This is demonstrably false. I have a painting and a photograph in front of me and I am comparing them. They are definitely not the same. I am comparing them nonetheless :)

Yes, but you're not writing. You're using an ai. It's not the same thing.
What is writing? Text is just a medium for communicating thought. When we "write", we imagine up things and write them down, so we can communicate those things, our imagination, to others.

Now there are two components in play here:
- the form: as in, the language used, the shaping of the letters (for hand written manuscripts for example), the typography in general, the word choices, expressions used, how descriptive the text is. This can enhance the work and it can spark the reader's imagination, but ultimately it is just form. It can also reduce the enjoyment value of a work, by making it hard to read, dry, unimaginative.. which is why "AI written" stories feel so bad at times.
- and the substance: our thoughts, our imagination, our fantasies
plot, characters, setting, theme, symbolism, dialogues, pacing, conflicts, resolutions, descriptions, foreshadowing, suspense, tone - these are not parts of the text. these are conveyed by the text

The AI can generate the text that conveys these thoughts, but it is you who has to prompt the AI to generate them in the first place, or you who has to browse various options it has generated until you find the right one to express what you want.

How is that different from mixing colors until I find the right one for the sunset? Its just an act of finding the right form to express my thoughts, my ideas.

The emphasis is on MY.

MY STORY. Not the AI's. That it was not necessarily me coming up with all the words that convey the story would not make it any less mine.
Sure it is arguably a different form of art, than pure writing. Just as running is not the same sport as cycling, even though the underlying goal is the same: to test the endurance of the human body over a specific, predetermined distance.

While you can ask ChatGPT to write a random children's tale for your boy or girl and it will do an acceptable job doing it (especially given the abysmal standards of our age in that regard), it has a snowball's chance in hell to create anything even remotely close to a complex story.
Even if you put hundreds of hours into prompting it.
It is literally easier to write most of the story on your own and only ask it for minor help with expressions or synonyms, than to try and get it to write a coherent story.
 
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This is demonstrably false. I have a painting and a photograph in front of me and I am comparing them. They are definitely not the same. I am comparing them nonetheless :)


What is writing? Text is just a medium for communicating thought. When we "write", we imagine up things and write them down, so we can communicate those things, our imagination, to others.

Now there are two components in play here:
- the form: as in, the language used, the shaping of the letters (for hand written manuscripts for example), the typography in general, the word choices, expressions used, how descriptive the text is. This can enhance the work and it can spark the reader's imagination, but ultimately it is just form. It can also reduce the enjoyment value of a work, by making it hard to read, dry, unimaginative.. which is why "AI written" stories feel so bad at times.
- and the substance: our thoughts, our imagination, our fantasies
plot, characters, setting, theme, symbolism, dialogues, pacing, conflicts, resolutions, descriptions, foreshadowing, suspense, tone - these are not parts of the text. these are conveyed by the text

The AI can generate the text that conveys these thoughts, but it is you who has to prompt the AI to generate them in the first place, or you who has to browse various options it has generated until you find the right one to express what you want.

How is that different from mixing colors until I find the right one for the sunset? Its just an act of finding the right form to express my thoughts, my ideas.

The emphasis is on MY.

MY STORY. Not the AI's. That it was not necessarily me coming up with all the words that convey the story would not make it any less mine.
Sure it is arguably a different form of art, than pure writing. Just as running is not the same sport as cycling, even though the underlying goal is the same: to test the endurance of the human body over a specific, predetermined distance.

While you can ask ChatGPT to write a random children's tale for your boy or girl and it will do an acceptable job doing it (especially given the abysmal standards of our age in that regard), it has a snowball's chance in hell to create anything even remotely close to a complex story.
Even if you put hundreds of hours into prompting it.
It is literally easier to write most of the story on your own and only ask it for minor help with expressions or synonyms, than to try and get it to write a coherent story.
Alright a lot to break down here:

1. What is writing?
Writing is first and foremost a skill. When a person sits down to write, every word is deliberately chosen by the writer. They have to arrange those words in a way that can clearly communicate an idea to another human being. Grammar, syntax, punctuation come into play. They can take years to master. This is writing at its most basic form.

Each individual writer, regardless of skill can add their own voice into their words. I don't know how to explain this... Terry Pratchett is funny. Ernest Hemingway creates intense emotional moments with short, blunt prose. Emily Bronte creates wild, unlikeable, but compelling characters. This where I believe the "art" comes in. If we ever come to a place where ai is better at writing, painting, or whatever else. We are in trouble. Which brings me to my next point...

2. This can enhance the work and it can spark the reader's imagination, but ultimately it is just form.
I could not disagree with you more. An artist makes the form their own. And the artist is what makes art special in the first place. They breathe life into their words and make them beautiful. I suspect that sentence will turn off you pragmatic types. That's fine. I am a card-carrying romantic.

3. - and the substance: our thoughts, our imagination, our fantasies
plot, characters, setting, theme, symbolism, dialogues, pacing, conflicts, resolutions, descriptions, foreshadowing, suspense, tone - these are not parts of the text. these are conveyed by the text

I agree with this, but I think it takes an incredible amount of skill and effort to make "text" convey these things. Again, this is where art comes in.

4. The AI can generate the text that conveys these thoughts, but it is you who has to prompt the AI to generate them in the first place, or you who has to browse various options it has generated until you find the right one to express what you want.
You tell the computer what you want, and it does the work. It's not the same thing as agonizing over a word choice, tearing your hair out as you struggle with verb tense, or spend hours outlining your plot until it makes sense. It a completely different skill set. The above poster mentioned photography and painting. They both make beautiful images in a completely different way. When I say that you can't compare a photograph and a painting, I mean that it takes two different sets of skills, sets of equipment, and artistic flare to make something beautiful.

5. How is that different from mixing colors until I find the right one for the sunset? Its just an act of finding the right form to express my thoughts, my ideas.
Because my friend, YOU are the one mixing the colors. You are putting black paint into blue to create a shade that resembles the sunset. YOU are the one making something beautiful.

6. MY STORY
I will give you this. It is your story. The ai gives you a list of sentences and pick and choose them and figure out what order they go in. But I will not budge on the fact it's not the same thing as what you called "pure" writing. I'm a stone, remember.

And children's picture books are tough to write. You have to convey complicated ideas in an extremely simple way in a tiny amount of words.
 
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Go ahead and give it a try yourself; show us how easy it is. Let the machine craft a 500-word vignette for you. Mmm...make it about a single mother and her daughter on their way to the nearby bus station on a sunny morning, as they relocate to a new home, a new beginning. Ensure the text is coherent, includes dialogue, and portrays both the participants and their surroundings. Take 20 minutes (it's supposed to be easy). We're eagerly awaiting your/its creation...

Just don't spend the entire 20 minutes signing in and dealing with the captcha.
It's not writing. The ai is the one doing all the work and you are simply editing.
 
Go ahead and give it a try yourself; show us how easy it is. Let the machine craft a 500-word vignette for you. Mmm...make it about a single mother and her daughter on their way to the nearby bus station on a sunny morning, as they relocate to a new home, a new beginning. Ensure the text is coherent, includes dialogue, and portrays both the participants and their surroundings. Take 20 minutes (it's supposed to be easy). We're eagerly awaiting your/its creation...

Just don't spend the entire 20 minutes signing in and dealing with the captcha.
It's remarkably easy:

As the sun rose on a crisp and radiant morning, Sarah and her beloved daughter, Lily, set out on a transformative adventure towards a promising new chapter in their lives. With each step they took, their hearts overflowed with anticipation and a sense of renewal.

Carrying their cherished belongings, Sarah and Lily made their way towards the nearby bus station, the vibrant rays of sunlight casting a warm glow upon their path. The air was filled with an electric energy, as if the universe itself was conspiring to make their journey a remarkable one.

"Mom, I simply cannot contain my excitement! I am so eager to lay my eyes upon our new home," Lily exclaimed, her voice brimming with youthful enthusiasm. Sarah's face lit up with a tender smile, her eyes shining with a mixture of pride and optimism. She marveled at the strength and resilience her daughter possessed, a constant source of inspiration.

As they meandered through the bustling streets, the city came alive with its symphony of sounds and sights. The honking of cars, the laughter of children, and the chatter of passersby created a harmonious backdrop to their voyage. Sarah and Lily absorbed every detail, their senses heightened by the thrill of embarking on this new
That's from your post, verbatim, minus the note about captcha. Certainly isn't a complete work - it isn't 500 words as specified and cuts off mid-sentence - but for a couple seconds of 'work' it isn't bad. I don't believe I would say I wrote that, or that you did.
 
Go ahead and give it a try yourself; show us how easy it is. Let the machine craft a 500-word vignette for you. Mmm...make it about a single mother and her daughter on their way to the nearby bus station on a sunny morning, as they relocate to a new home, a new beginning. Ensure the text is coherent, includes dialogue, and portrays both the participants and their surroundings. Take 20 minutes (it's supposed to be easy). We're eagerly awaiting your/its creation...

Just don't spend the entire 20 minutes signing in and dealing with the captcha.
As a matter of fact, it's like you "commission" the ai to make what you want and you survey the result and decide if you like it or not. Similar to how the di Medici family commissioned Fillipo Brunelleshi to build the cathedral of Florence. The di Medici's paid for it, but they didn't build it. It was a joint effort, but Brunelleshi is credited for building it.
 
Go ahead and give it a try yourself; show us how easy it is. Let the machine craft a 500-word vignette for you. Mmm...make it about a single mother and her daughter on their way to the nearby bus station on a sunny morning, as they relocate to a new home, a new beginning. Ensure the text is coherent, includes dialogue, and portrays both the participants and their surroundings. Take 20 minutes (it's supposed to be easy). We're eagerly awaiting your/its creation...

Just don't spend the entire 20 minutes signing in and dealing with the captcha.
As the rays of the morning sun painted golden hues across the pavement, a single mother and her daughter embarked on a path towards the nearby bus station; anticipation and excitement danced in their eyes.

"Look, Mommy!" exclaimed the little girl, her tiny finger pointed at a flock of birds soaring freely in the sky.

Her mother smiled tenderly, "They remind me of the journey we're about to embark on, sweetie. A new home, a new beginning."

Their steps synchronized, forming a rhythm of hope and optimism, echoing against the backdrop of bustling streets, and it was in that very moment that they understood that this journey, no matter how daunting, was a bridge to a brighter future.

I think you shot yourself in the foot, friend. This technologically incompetent stone just did this in less than five minutes. It took thirty seconds to add appropriate spacing.
 
But I didn't ask you or anyone else who knows how it works. I asked her for her reason. And it is bad, abysmally bad. Making it into something worth reading, something you had envisioned already, is very far from easy.
Hmm if you say so. It's not to my tastes, but I've seen worse out of humans. And by all accounts it's only going to get better.
 
Alright a lot to break down here:

1. What is writing?
Writing is first and foremost a skill. When a person sits down to write, every word is deliberately chosen by the writer. They have to arrange those words in a way that can clearly communicate an idea to another human being. Grammar, syntax, punctuation come into play. They can take years to master. This is writing at its most basic form.

Each individual writer, regardless of skill can add their own voice into their words. I don't know how to explain this... Terry Pratchett is funny. Ernest Hemingway creates intense emotional moments with short, blunt prose. Emily Bronte creates wild, unlikeable, but compelling characters. This where I believe the "art" comes in. If we ever come to a place where ai is better at writing, painting, or whatever else. We are in trouble. Which brings me to my next point...
I never said, that a writer's style has no effect on their art. I however stand by my opinion, that text it just the medium to convey that art. Such as the colorful shapes would be on a canvas are the words on a sheet of paper. In themselves, they mean little. Together, in a particular composition, they can evoke feeling and carry meaning.

Hemingway's intense, emotional moments are not in his words. Its his thoughts that are conveyed through his words. That is why you can read the Bible in 100+ different languages and get the same intense feelings from it, as it is not the individual words that carry the value, but the meaning they convey when you read them.

I have read books in multiple languages. Some in 3 different ones. I got the same feelings every time. Some were slightly better in conveying the original intent of the author, some were slightly worse. Heck, I had cases, where the translator was a better wordsmith than the original author and managed to paint a more vivid picture. Was Tolkien's Hobbit the translator's work then? Just because it was his words that conveyed Tolkien's ideas to me? Of course not, and also in a sense yes.

The moment he wrote that story down in his own words (which he had to do as it was a translation), he added some of his own to it. It wasn't Tolkien telling me what's in his imagination anymore, it was the translator, who has read Tolkien's work, internalized his ideas and vision and did his best to recreate it in his own language. It just so happens, he did a slightly better job than Tolkien did. (truth be told, the translator was a very well respected author himself, so he was more than equipped for the task)

Actually, this is a genius analogy, I do not know why it didn't occur to me before. See, I could probably write a lot better in my own native language than in English (lots of reasons, besides the point). I could then ask a translator to translate that work to English and publish the translation. I would of course have to credit the translator, but would I not be credited as the author? Would it not be me who would be applauded for the creativity, the thought, the ideas? Of course it would be me.
Now, how is that different from the AI translating my thoughts to a language? It is not. It is only different because there is an ongoing psychosis / hysteria surrounding the AI. It will pass, things will normalize and everyone will live happily ever after :)

Then again, to cut this lengthy discussion short:
Art (/ɑːt/)
noun
the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.

I rest my case - mike drop.
 
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I never said, that a writer's style has no effect on their art. I however stand by my opinion, that text it just the medium to convey that art. Such as the colorful shapes would be on a canvas are the words on a sheet of paper. In themselves, they mean little. Together, in a particular composition, they can evoke feeling and carry meaning.

Hemingway's intense, emotional moments are not in his words. Its his thoughts that are conveyed through his words. That is why you can read the Bible in 100+ different languages and get the same intense feelings from it, as it is not the individual words that carry the value, but the meaning they convey when you read them.

I have read books in multiple languages. Some in 3 different ones. I got the same feelings every time. Some were slightly better in conveying the original intent of the author, some were slightly worse. Heck, I had cases, where the translator was a better wordsmith than the original author and managed to paint a more vivid picture. Was Tolkien's Hobbit the translator's work then? Just because it was his words that conveyed Tolkien's ideas to me? Of course not, and also in a sense yes.

The moment he wrote that story down in his own words (which he had to do as it was a translation), he added some of his own to it. It wasn't Tolkien telling me what's in his imagination anymore, it was the translator, who has read Tolkien's work, internalized his ideas and vision and did his best to recreate it in his own language. It just so happens, he did a slightly better job than Tolkien did. (truth be told, the translator was a very well respected author himself, so he was more than equipped for the task)

Actually, this is a genius analogy, I do not know why it didn't occur to me before. See, I could probably write a lot better in my own native language than in English (lots of reasons, besides the point). I could then ask a translator to translate that work to English and publish the translation. I would of course have to credit the translator, but would I not be credited as the author? Would it not be me who would be applauded for the creativity, the thought, the ideas? Of course it would be me.
Now, how is that different from the AI translating my thoughts to a language? It is not. It is only different because there is an ongoing psychosis / hysteria surrounding the AI. It will pass, things will normalize and everyone will live happily ever after :)

Then again, to cut this lengthy discussion short:
Art (/ɑːt/)
noun
the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.

I rest my case - mike drop.
We're just going to have to agree to disagree. But again, I could not disagree with you more. Your translator analogy is terrible because a translator is human being who knows that certain words carry different meaning. An ai is a machine that needs a person to tell it what to say and then check to see if it did a good job. In fact Google translator is terrible at communicating local idioms, figures of speech ect.

*picks up mic and hands it back to you*

Try again, friend.
 
I never said, that a writer's style has no effect on their art. I however stand by my opinion, that text it just the medium to convey that art. Such as the colorful shapes would be on a canvas are the words on a sheet of paper. In themselves, they mean little. Together, in a particular composition, they can evoke feeling and carry meaning.

Hemingway's intense, emotional moments are not in his words. Its his thoughts that are conveyed through his words. That is why you can read the Bible in 100+ different languages and get the same intense feelings from it, as it is not the individual words that carry the value, but the meaning they convey when you read them.

I have read books in multiple languages. Some in 3 different ones. I got the same feelings every time. Some were slightly better in conveying the original intent of the author, some were slightly worse. Heck, I had cases, where the translator was a better wordsmith than the original author and managed to paint a more vivid picture. Was Tolkien's Hobbit the translator's work then? Just because it was his words that conveyed Tolkien's ideas to me? Of course not, and also in a sense yes.

The moment he wrote that story down in his own words (which he had to do as it was a translation), he added some of his own to it. It wasn't Tolkien telling me what's in his imagination anymore, it was the translator, who has read Tolkien's work, internalized his ideas and vision and did his best to recreate it in his own language. It just so happens, he did a slightly better job than Tolkien did. (truth be told, the translator was a very well respected author himself, so he was more than equipped for the task)

Actually, this is a genius analogy, I do not know why it didn't occur to me before. See, I could probably write a lot better in my own native language than in English (lots of reasons, besides the point). I could then ask a translator to translate that work to English and publish the translation. I would of course have to credit the translator, but would I not be credited as the author? Would it not be me who would be applauded for the creativity, the thought, the ideas? Of course it would be me.
Now, how is that different from the AI translating my thoughts to a language? It is not. It is only different because there is an ongoing psychosis / hysteria surrounding the AI. It will pass, things will normalize and everyone will live happily ever after :)

Then again, to cut this lengthy discussion short:
Art (/ɑːt/)
noun
the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.

I rest my case - mike drop.
Also, art is subjective. Your Google definition is cute, but I disagree.
 
We're just going to have to agree to disagree. But again, I could not disagree with you more. Your translator analogy is terrible because a translator is human being who knows that certain words carry different meaning. An ai is a machine that needs a person to tell it what to say and then check to see if it did a good job. In fact Google translator is terrible at communicating local idioms, figures of speech ect.

*picks up mic and hands it back to you*

Try again, friend.
Try again to do what? Repeat the same argument? You seem to have ignored everything I said.

No matter who translates my work, man or machine, it is not the words that make it art. It is the creative thought behind the work. As proven by the fact, that the same piece of art (creative thought) can be represented in many different FORMS.

Shakespeare's Hamlet is still his creative work, whether it is played in a theater, read in a book in English, Swahili or Japanese. It will still be the same work in different forms. Prince Hamlet is the same character, the result of a creative process, the creation of Shakespeare, no matter if he is portrayed in a painting, sculpted into a statue, played by an actor or described by the author's own words.

The FORM might differ, but the creative thought underneath remains the same. THAT's what makes it art. Sure, a painting, a sculpture, the acting, even the descriptive words on the paper all carry their own artistic value, but they are not the work, the substance. The are but the form, in which the work is represented.

You say art is subjective, yet in the same sentence you limit art to your extremely narrow definition of it.
 
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Try again to do what? Repeat the same argument? You seem to have ignored everything I said.

No matter who translates my work, man or machine, it is not the words that make it art. It is the creative thought behind the work. As proven by the fact, that the same piece of art (creative thought) can be represented in many different FORMS.

Shakespeare's Hamlet is still his creative work, whether it is played in a theater, read in a book in English, Swahili or Japanese. It will still be the same work in different forms. Prince Hamlet is the same character, the result of a creative process, the creation of Shakespeare, no matter if he is portrayed in a painting, sculpted into a statue, played by an actor or described by the author's own words.

The FORM might differ, but the creative thought underneath remains the same. THAT's what makes it art. Sure, a painting, a sculpture, the acting, even the descriptive words on the paper all carry their own artistic value, but they are not the work, the substance. The are but the form, in which the work is represented.

You say art is subjective, yet in the same sentence you limit art to your extremely narrow definition of it.
This why I said we're going to have to agree to disagree. We've reached an impasse. We don't even agree what art is, so I don't think we're going to be able to discuss AI and it's implications. You say AI generated content is art because a human is behind the machine, but I say it's not because the machine is doing the work. And the work in general is based on other human artistic efforts. So here's where I shake your hand and tell you to have a nice life.
 
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