Why do we make things?
Years ago, my friend and artists Andy Murray spent what felt like an insane amount of time studying the colour blue.
Andy is a brilliant water colour artist. My memory of it is that he was trying to figure out a specific version of blue for a project.
The other day someone showed me yet another AI tool that can “just make an image that for you”. And I thought about Andy and his pursuit of this blue and I was reminded that for so many creative people, it is the process and the journey of creating things that matters, sometimes even more so than the finished product.
Can you imagine hearing about his project and offering him an AI app would create the perfect blue for him? Weeks of time saved! Project complete!
The difference in thinking here is exactly what is driving the current wave of AI-everything.
If you view making art, creating music, taking a photo, as a problem to be solved, rather than an expressive act that helps us understand ourselves, then you end up with AI slop. And you probably can’t tell the different. Or even understand why artists aren’t flocking to your new AI tools.
Leonardo DiCaprio shared his thoughts on AI art last week. I thought his point about it not being anchored or attached to a person and therefore it can never be art was spot on. I’m paraphrasing, but you can
read his interview here.
Below are the links I’ve been saving to share with you. Many more examples of AI crap, but some other fun stuff too.
Oh! I nearly forgot. I recently made the switch from Spotify to Deezer. There are lots of reasons to leave Spotify, but one critical one for me is that they are now flooding the app with AI music. I posted lots of videos about the process which now lives on a highlight on my IG.
Check it out here.
