Is AI the Death of Creativity? | Brian Eno (Ep. 15)

In this episode of Life With Machines, Baratunde Thurston sits down with legendary artist and producer Brian Eno to talk AI and creativity. From inventing ambient music to collaborating with icons like David Bowie, Talking Heads, and U2, Eno has spent decades pushing creative boundaries. Now, he's turning his attention to AI. On the heels of the U.S. launch of his newest book What Art Does: An Unfinished Theory, Brian opens up about why he doesn't trust the people controlling AI, the perils of mediocrity in machine-made art, and how unpredictability fuels creativity. They explore the rise of generative music, the myth of the self-made genius, and what it means to embrace randomness. Plus, BLAIR, the show’s AI co-producer, throws in some Oblique Strategies of its own. Is AI a collaborator or just a glorified karaoke machine? And what does it mean to create in a world where the machines are learning from us? Watch now for a thought-provoking conversation on the future of art, technology, and the human touch.

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CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction to Embracing the Unexpected
00:19 Meet Brian Eno: The Non-Musician
02:07 Brian Eno's Early Fascination with Technology
09:34 The Birth of Generative Art
12:09 The Collaborative Nature of Creativity
15:45 AI and the Future of Art
18:47 The Mediocrity Challenge of AI
23:25 Generative Documentary: A Unique Viewing Experience
26:42 AI's Impact on Society and Trust Issues
33:13 Engaging with AI: BLAIR Adds to Brian’s Oblique Strategies
41:48 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
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Created and Executive Produced by: Elizabeth Stewart and Baratunde Thurston
Executive Producer and Showrunner: Alie Kilts
Senior Producer and Writer: Alex Stone
Associate Producer: Layne Deyling Cherland
Video Editor: Erik Shute
Videography and Audio Engineer: Erik Shute
Theme Music: Andy Clausen
Special Envoy to the Machines: Peter Loforte
Life with Machines is a Multiverses Media production

[tonyb]

Great talk.
Creativity is curiousity.
An artist does not prompt. He is researching. playing. Jump into the un known.
AI determines in advance the result.
It is the opposite of being creative.
AI is a tool at best, when it is not compromised by greed.

[chrisreid]

Great ! I felt like this had the right level of respect that Brian deserves.

[Juan]

Thanks for the interview, I was always amazed by eno and his work with Roxy music and his solo career.
A good interview and I see that Eno is always catching an eye on new things.

[HewittH]

Everyone says, "it's a poor craftsman that blames his tools." If we take a step further, it would also be a poor craftsman that praises them. Here, Brian Eno demonstrates an understanding of that, if not in so many words. His insight about how we ascribe value to art based on where we think it came from is low key the biggest thing that will define our relationship with AI.

[elrafaga]

All I can say is THANK YOU both for this very interesting and inspiring reflection that goes beyond the apparent questions, about AI and the meaning of being in an artistic activity.... a very wise dialog where the questions weigh more than any possible answers....

[elrafaga]

.... and also, I coincide completely with what you are saying from the perspective of the receiver. When I listen to music I do feel a connection with the creator of that music (in real time) and I feel gratefulness and that becomes part of the equation, in my resulting inspiration or general wellbeing. GRatefulness has got to be the most beautiful and plentiful emotion I have ever experienced. No matter who is actually playing the sonata in C major, I thank them but especially I feel a mysterious connection with Mozart whom I never met and know almost nothing about besides the music I'm crying with. This changes my whole feeling and perspective about being human and what it means.... again, thank you so much for this dialog guys....

[krE]

Thank you for this. It held my attention. I struggle to focus my attention even on things I am interested in. I like how Brian walked us through the way he does things. @baratunde I liked the questions you asked him. Over a couple of decdes ago, in a certain mindstate, I used to get these weird images in my mind, and, while I did nothing with them as I could not find a way of bringing them into being, they remained. I did a similar thing with poetry. That was, until, recently, when I started giving Grok prompts to generate photos of these images, and to my suprise, I have got lots of amusemement out of them. So, at the moment, you could say, Grok is my medium. I am pretty fussy about what I choose from the images it generates. To add to this, I am not even conscious of my motivations when choosing images.

[ericteplitzpodcast]

Excellent interview! I greatly appreciated Brian's humanistic bent and your thoughtful questions and reflections! 🙏

[GreatWhiteNiko]

Creativity is always at the same level. Their expression depending on social factors. Befor the internet there was the same number of actually creative people as we do now.
The difference is exposure - because of technology fools believe they are what they are not. In this case - creative.
Which does not change the number of actually creative people. Expressed or not.

[williamroberts]

Definitely did not invent ambient music but yes love him. This should be a great video.

[thekeywitness]

Now, I'm waiting for a piece of art from Eno that translates an emotion into a data stream.

[DJAdalaide]

You're AI came up with an absolute bag of bollocks, apart from that it was a great talk thanks.

[sleepisoptional]

wow you invented an even more annoying editing style. stop it