03/16/2023

AI Will Make Human Art More Valuable

Society will continue to favor the artistic output of people

The rise of generative AI models has led to equal amounts of clapping and handwringing.  One worry is that, as Kevin Kelly put it, “artificial intelligence can now make better art than most humans.” So where does that leave us? 

The mistake is to assume that the meaning of “better” will stay the same. What’s more likely is that the goal posts will shift because we will move them. We have changed our collective tastes in response to technological progress in the past. We’ll now do it again, without even noticing that it’s happening. And if history is any indication, our tastes will evolve in a way that rigs the game in favor of human artists. 

It’s not surprising that in conceiving of a new world awash with AI art, we haven’t accounted for a society-wide change in taste. We tend to assume that in the future we will want the same things we want now, and that only the ability to achieve them will evolve. One famous study dubbed this the “end of history illusion:” People readily agree that their most strongly held tastes have changed over the past decade but then insist that from this point on those tastes will remain as they are. Having presumably reached some peak level of refinement, they can now rest idly in their self-assurance.

Please select this link to read the complete article from WIRED.