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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   31277 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 9, 2023

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It would be great if we could all go into art, but at that point I think AI would be better than us at that too.

I think this is true at some levels, but depends on a narrow definition of "art." Sure ML can produce well-tempered pieces, but people don't go to art museums to see "Dutch woman with head covering and visible earring in the style.of the Dutch Golden Age." There is a hard-to-quantify notion of authenticity in art that isn't quite the same.

I think AI art may well develop into its own medium or genre, but I don't see it replacing everything else in the same way that photography hasn't replaced painting (although it had a profound impact on preferred styles, moving away from realism) or sound recording hasn't eliminated live musicians even if some events do use an iPod and a speaker. There is a very human quality that keeps people paying to see live music performances.

I don't know what AI art will do in a decade, but I think there will still be a place for human artists.

Well, my point was conditional on AI removing people from the workplace. Conditional on that I expect it to be generally better than people at art as well.

I think there will still be a place for "artists" but it will essentially be social in nature. I suppose to some extent it already is.

The notion of authenticity may be hard to quantify but the number of people actually going to see those authentic art pieces rather than consuming media products is much easier.

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