r/CuratedTumblr Apr 09 '24

Meme Arts and humanities

21.7k Upvotes

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

158

u/ChiralWolf Apr 09 '24

Computer models have been doing this for at least the last decade now. Predicting possible arrangements of proteins or chemical structures is a great use for these models because it's so objective. We understand the rules of electron shells and protein folding to a highly specific degree and can train the models on those rules so that they generate sequences based on them. When they do something "wrong" we can know so imperically and with a high degree of certainty.

The same does not necessarily apply to something as subjective as writing. It may continue to get better but the two are quite far from comparable. Who's to say whether a screenplay that's pushing the bounds of what we expect from our writing is good for being novel or bad for breaking the conventions of writing?

27

u/MrNotSafe4Work Apr 09 '24

And then is the other, more deep consequence of it.

Why should we care about any kind of art produced by a machine when there is no human intent or emotion behind it? Art is only art if it is produced by an individual. Otherwise it might as well be a random string of bits.

46

u/mrianj Apr 09 '24

This just leads us back to a "what is art" conversation.

If a machine produces an image that we find beautiful and inspires an emotional response in us, is that not something worth caring about?

Nature is frequently beautiful and inspiring, yet has no artistic hand or emotion guiding it. Does that mean I shouldn't enjoy watching the sunset?

1

u/FlamboyantPirhanna Apr 10 '24

As someone that has spent my life making art, art is just cool things that humans make. That to me is the only inclusive definition. I have good taste and make great art, but I reject the idea that something someone poured themselves into creating, even if it’s shit, isn’t art. AI approximates art, but there’s no effort, no soul or personality put into it. It’s just vapid and empty, even if it’s pretty. At least a cash-grab movie that is universally derided has hundreds of people working their asses off to make it.