Make Art Like We Do

Stop using machines as a crutch to be more human.

Using a synthetic machine to more fully experience your own humanity is a cringe-inducing self-indictment. You’re better than that. At least rocker Nick Cave thinks so.

Responding to a fan who sent him AI-generated lyrics, Cave said art arises

“out of suffering, by which I mean [it is] predicated upon the complex, internal human struggle of creation and, well, as far as I know, algorithms don’t feel.

Data doesn’t suffer.

ChatGPT has no inner being, it has been nowhere, it has endured nothing, it has not had the audacity to reach beyond its limitations, and hence it doesn’t have the capacity for a shared transcendent experience, as it has no limitations from which to transcend.”

Eryk Salvaggio is an interdisciplinary design researcher and new media artist who concludes this satirical essay saying:

“AI makes art just like we do…”

It does!

Except for the character-building and soul-nourishing part.

The synthetic machines generate text, images, video, and — code to make — 3D representations without having to go through any of the messiness of being human.

The machine skips all the inefficient starts-and-stops that come with growth.

AI doesn’t get distracted with the trial and error of finding meaning.

The machine has the soul, consciousness, and character of a $5 hammer from Home Depot.

It doesn’t have to deal with paying attention to the transcendental implications of a life-changing experience last month.

The machine doesn’t hone a craft to successfully create examples of “a pure, universally accessible” work of art.

Artists do.

Sundays are for art.