“I spent about 80 hours adding words like richness and splendor.”
The digital art 'Space Opera Theater, Théâtre D'opéra Spatial', created using MidJourney, a generative AI program that converts text into images, won the Colorado State Fair in August. Artists were furious, and the creator of the artwork, in an interview with a news outlet, claimed that AI programs are a 'tool' for new art creation, as they had tried over 900 text transformations to continuously develop the tone and manner from the initial image of a 'Victorian woman in a space helmet'.
According to a 2013 report by the Oxford Internet Institute, part of the University of Oxford, jobs less threatened by AI were artistic and creative tasks like painting and writing. However, earlier this month, GPT-3 wrote an article for New York Magazine depicting the landscape of Donald Trump's 2024 presidential debate, and the generative AI startup service 'Consensus' provides conclusions from scientific papers around the world in a matter of seconds, including the number of citations, in response to a user's query.
In my case, the actual writing time for an article is usually less than half of the total working time, and most of it is spent reading extensively to identify content that can be included within a limited space, and determining the overall structure and key points. These examples have enabled the automation of specific tasks that have historically been considered part of the human creative process, leading me to agree with the argument that creativity may no longer be solely a symbol of humanness. Of course, some may argue that human intervention is still paramount and artificial intelligence simply does what it's told. However, in a world where technology is expanding faster and more richly than ever before, and where ethics are lacking, such a narrative is difficult to give much weight.
Sociologist Professor Emeritus Kim Mun-jo of Korea University pointed out that in the digital age, human beings are filled with attempts to pursue desires that transcend physical, material, and normative limitations, and that the departure from authenticity, humanism, and truth has become the direction of the times. We are already familiar with deepfake pornography featuring celebrities' faces, fake news on YouTube for views, and the compulsion for news reporting to become entertaining news shows. Moreover, generative AI technology will accelerate the democratization of culture, which is being concretized after the advent of smartphones and social media, which have made it easy to capture and distribute anything.
So, what aspects of human creativity should be considered for differentiation in the market? Particularly in industries like art or advertising and media content production, where creators compete based on the outcomes of their creativity, where can they find their competitive edge when compared to these generative AI programs?
First, they should focus on a rich perspective on the real world. Style has historically been a unique characteristic of artists. Even if someone instructs a generative AI program to implement something in the style of Leonardo da Vinci, it will be classified by the audience as a derivative work influenced by the existing artist's style. Also, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that the outputs of generative AI programs such as the aforementioned 'Space Opera' or 'Spider-Man in Roman Times' created by DALL-E, while interesting, reveal an aspect of existential loss in a surreal direction.
Consistent and distinct unique styles of creators sprout from their own perspectives on the world, and in this regard, it is necessary to refer to the 'Discordant Frame' applicable to the metaverse era. This helps us understand both the popularity of omakase, a consumption behavior prevalent among the Gen Z generation that cannot be explained by existing sociological perspectives on poverty and inequality, and the contrasting trend of the no-spending challenge. Viewing aging as a discordance between birth and death, and polarization as a discordance between growth and distribution, allows for a more intuitive understanding that 'harmony' between them could be a key to finding solutions. This provides a helpful tool for intuitive comprehension.
Second, they should value the process. In the current world of generative AI technology where instructions are given through text, the choice of what a creator writes becomes the core technology. Showing expertise as a creator through the process of how someone arrived at a result, along with the volume of outputs during that process, can become the core of competitiveness. Related technology companies are likely to develop their own languages and systems that enable more granular control when writing prompts. In the future, creators who will be using generative AI programs in their professional work, or those who will continue to work in traditional ways, should consider methods to incorporate and reveal richer insights into 'each production process' rather than just the output. Through this, the audience will discover a connection between the meaning they have confirmed and their own lives, which is not simply entertainment, thus helping them mutually confirm and determine the value of the 'result'.
Despite the current era of contractionary management, investment in commercialization of generative AI technology companies continues to grow rapidly. The growth of the digital camera market and the rapid technological advancement of smartphone cameras have made the domain of so-called video production professionals in the advertising or film industry, previously a secure field, easily accessible to the general public. More and more brands are investing in Jasper, which writes advertising copy, and are already handling their internal marketing tasks. The output of image synthesis programs like Lensa AI has already filled a significant portion of social media walls.
In his book examining the cultural customs and beliefs of the Rai people living on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea, anthropologist James Leach'suggests that creativity exists to control people, not things.'Ultimately, creators must not forget that they are on a path to inspire their audience and help them find meaning in their lives through their work, leading to emotional and behavioral changes among the public.
*This article is the original content published on December 27, 2022 in Electronic Newspaper Named Column.
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