As I typed the title of this blog, the first question that came to my mind is – “will a piece of art work produced by a machine, be as highly valued as a man made one would be?”
The nature of creative process such as painting, is very drastically being changed by new technologies such as AI. This century has already made computers a canvas, a brush and a vast number of things. We have started identifying machines as creative entities.
If we think about the mystery of creativity, that runs in a human’s brain before painting, we realize that creativity does not arise from nothing. It arises from the pre-acquired knowledge and pictures and memories stored in our mind that leads us to a creative idea. I think they are some random connections and relations between them that leads to a piece of creativity. In a very similar way, machine learning helps in generating creative ideas and synthetic images.
We might think that the perfect machine-produced masterpieces are diminishing the value of traditional art. I feel it goes without saying that even in today’s highly digitalized world, man-made art pieces are far from being dead. It is due to the fact that human’s creativity and computational creativity cannot work the same way. That initial energy or spark that differentiates us from all the non-living entities makes that unique and significant difference. It does not mean that art produced by machines is less creative. If we think about the reasons for painting apart from passion, we realize that it reflects the life or mood of the painter.
A few simple examples that I observed in my own paintings. One of the first paintings in Montreal was my inspiration from Beaver lake. That beauty of nature was so enchanting that it made me try to attempt to capture that on a canvas. Then the other paintings I did here were truly a reflection of my moods. I paint when I am totally stressed to calm myself, to show my happiness, to show that I love people in my life, to just relax and even when I am lazy I revert to painting. But, a machine…….does it need any motivation or aspiration or mood or any such thing ?
Another thing we need to clearly remember is that the codes does not make us human but it is the humans who type codes. We are the users and creators of a bi-directional path called “technology”! Also, our generation still have an important role to play in shaping how AI or computational creativity develops.
As someone who is fascinated and passionate about both these fields, I strongly feel that we must have a balance and learn to co-exist with technology. We should learn to appreciate the creativity of non-living entities, and stop having the feeling that humans are superior.
Copyright © Swapnasrushti. Please do not pictorially edit or copy this work.
Hey Rakshitha! I loved reading your blog in that the selection and coherence of your words is amazing! You've chosen to break the ice with a fairly controversial topic of our day, and I love how you have a strong opinion about this. Makes me wonder; tomorrow when I buy a painting for my wall, will I be at terms with the fact that it was made by a hyperintelligent algorithm? Will I maybe desire its creator to have more of a... "Life Story"? A "Subjective set of emotions" maybe? For all you know, by the time we're grown ups; machines will have stories just as vivid to tell. That shall end my predicament for good then :) It's in…
Loved reading your blog. Keep going.. Interesting to learn
Dear Rakshita, I am impressed at your very idea of the culmination of AI with Art. Although AI is at the verge of setting it's foot in every aspect of our life, your idea of it's application to art is terrific. I strongly feel the area of art and paintings deserves good recognition in this arena of digitisation and computers. I'm sure in the coming days the computermachines are able to recognise the nature's beauty and decipher the same to describe emotions, feelings, likings, artistic values and segregation helping the community. Also you will appreciate lot of development taking place in the areas of Animation and computer graphics. Rakshita you have initiated this very interesting thought, the same needs t…
Dear Rakshi
Very interesting topic. Coming to think of it, AI will have the potential of its creator and not beyond where as an artist’s inspired imagination, no algorithm can comprehend!!!
All the best and keep up the good work
Dear Rakshitha
"Developing Skills can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings."
Wish you all the best in your ventures.
Raghunath Uncle.