Visual Arts in the Age of AI

Is creative expression the exclusive domain of the human mind, or can artificial intelligence reach -- or assist humans in reaching -- the enigmatic brilliance of artistic genius? Renowned multimedia artist Matthew Ritchie joins Brian Greene to delve into the potential of AI in the visual arts, exploring how technology may reshape the future of creativity.

Participant: Matthew Ritchie

Moderator: Brian Greene

00:00 - Introduction
03:30 - Participant Introduction
04:10 - Summarizing Generative AI and How It is Used
07:24 - Is AI Receiving the Same Pushback as Previously New Technology?
10:23 - Can An AI System Be Creative?
19:50 - Can AI Help Artists Reach a New Creative Level?
24:04 - Is it Possible to Improve AI Systems?
34:15 - Comparing AI to Human Creativity
36:48 - Potential Risks of AI
40:09 - Credits

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#briangreene #worldsciencefestival #artificialintelligence #ai #matthewritchie #generativeai

[wavydaveyparker]

It's often been said, that Photography is not an art form, because the camera never lies. However, Ansel Adams would probably disagree, because the real Art of Photography is about making the camera lie. He was a master of Pre-visualisation. Imagine the final image before taking the picture.

[wavydaveyparker]

*World Science Festival:* I once had a friend who was an Artist, and they held up a flower 🌻 and said,

_"You see as an Artist, I can tell how beautiful it is, but you as a Scientist, take it all apart and it becomes dull and uninteresting."_

And, I think they're kind of nutty. 😲

Can you help me resolved this conundrum please with ai? Kind regards, Richard.

[TheKitneys]

I started retouching from Adobe Photoshop V2 and moved to CGI much later on. I've been out of the whole game for about 5 years and thank God I had my 30 years of bliss in the creative field. AI simply guns 80% of creative artists, me included. :)

[myggggeneration]

In response to Brian's question: going from Rembrandt to Picasso takes more than Pattern Recognition IMO. That's a leap in creativity. The examples shown here did not display such a leap - they are IMO advanced levels of what we've had all along with video/computer art. The randomness of AI and a human creator selecting stuff that may or may not make sense is a form of collage, which is a 100-year-old art form that began with scissors and newspaper clippings. Advancing the technique to computer-generated videos - esp built on accidental compositions that happen to be cool - lacks a wow factor and lacks the *mental shift* that recognition and acceptance of a new art form requires. Just my 2 cents.

[buzz]

Actually, the first photograph to be displayed in an art museum was in Germany, in 1845. Not generations after the process was invented, but a scant 20 or so years later.

[charleslaurice]

Wow……..This is something very new to me I can’t wait to see how it will evolve and how it will influence the future of the human brain. This is great Thank you Brian Greene

[GeorgeMonsour]

That song seems reflective in it's lyrics and music. Remarkable that non-sense can seem sensitive! Something tells me that we'll know AI is independent when we are drawn to it's songs like sailors of Odysseus' time to the Sirens. Keep the wax nearby!!

[puttanesca]

Enjoying the conversation but not the AI art.

[davidallyn]

I'm not especially scared of AI becoming more creative initially. When it becomes intelligent enough to directly observe and transmute those observations into art, then the AI that we are all scared of will be like us. In which case, they would become partners in trying to discover and understand the universe. The one thing that we have all understood about the universe is that there are an infinite number of layers of complexity. The deepness of that understanding doesn't create art - it's the discovery of the deepness and trying to understand it in the context of the known layers that is why we create art. We don't tell a child their art isn't relevant just because they are discovering something we already know, and I think AI will be the same -- at first it will be we that are fascinated by it's discovery and then it will be the AI that will be fascinated by ours.

[AmandaCook-rcce]

I will make my AI with a heart and a brain 🧠 😅❤

[joependleton]

So he is pioneering in this new data cloud?... as it continues to grow! AI visuals needs to go further and look more realistic*

[stefanolacchin]

One could object that human creativity really isn't very different in principle from generative AI. We elaborate, merge, contaminate, extrapolate. No original idea is really original. We can imagine a unicorn because we merge different things of which we have experience. There really is no other way for us to come up with something new.

[spindoctor]

I reject the premise at the start. If you can listen to a bird sing and think humans can create better sounds then I feel bad for you. A bower bird does exactly the same thing as we do by the criteria that Greene uses. They make something beautiful that is important to them. Just as we do. No bower bird will look at a Picasso and think it is even worthy of a second glance, yet some of us are fascinated with their collection of decorations for their bower.

[FrancoisMouton-iujt]

As an artist I have no interest in AI. I believe it to be a shortcut for the talentless and lazy creators of pseudo-art.

[CLukeGurbin-os]

Carolina Jones open AI sounds good. Matter and antimatter may finally find art

[GeorgeMonsour]

The question is: Is the mind of AI forming? And is it prejudiced by the shallow inputs of tech?

[stephenarmiger]

Looking at the art that was created by AI and thinking about the argument that AI kind of mish mashed stuff together, I am thinking about the New Testament. Individual stories were mish mashed together and the individual authors were gone. It is only recently that efforts are being made to separate the stories and evaluate them for their individuality.

[dejal.]

It is all about AI led Artists or the others way round.

[nefertitib]

I nvr like digital art, to me it’s cheating. Real art is creating it with your hands, manual labor man… hand eye coordination, techniques, creativity that is molded through years of training, observation. Modern art is weird and difficult to understand. A giant rat in an art museum is supposed to represent what exactly? Photos of naked people’s butts supposed to evoke what? I don’t get it. Using machines to create art is going downhill 👎 music too, nothing beats classical music imo. Literature? Nothing beats the old classics, Russian classic is my thing.. yeah ChatGPT is dumb. It rewrites my resume in a weird way that I had to rewrite it. Why so many ppl rely on it instead of using their own brain like the old masters did? Modern authors cannot write such intricate eloquent sentences like in the old days. I cannot even recreate it it’s too advanced, like even cursing is very sophisticated back in the days. Unlike now..

[cjtrnqj]

The sensorial interface will extend to sculptured active hardware via the (transient) anti-equilateral reach of multi-helical control-truss operations in both (heavy) spring'bots, & (ultralight) balloon'bots & balloon['bot]hausen; their mirroring function will express the best sorts of tailored (lab-school-) educational curricula for their tenants & guests, or we may become stuck at kitsch. ([Shielded-] Balloon'bot-technologies [will] rule(!) on- & off-Earth, too...) Thanks.