I like to think of creativity being the canvas for innovation. Like a mosaic, the breadth of creativity intertwines itself across a variety of industries ranging from Law to Defence, Education, and Design.
With developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI) becoming leaner and smarter every day, the rapid rise of Generative Artificial Intelligence is challenging how creativity is perceived and nurtured across industries. So, without further ado let’s go further into the world of Generative AI.
What is Generative AI? Where is it used?
Without going into the technical nitty-gritty, Generative AI is a system using user input to output text, images, or sound. Rather than me telling you, let me showcase a couple of examples: one using ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer, or in another way, a cool chatbot) and another that’s focused on imagery.
For the ChatGPT example, once I’ve gone to Open AI’s website and clicked “Try ChatGPT” I get taken to a page where I can ask the bot to generate responses. There’s plenty of examples I could input, but let’s say I was starting a Design company and was needing copy ideas for one of my Design services. I simply type my instructions and the bot outputs the response:
Pretty cool, huh? Sure, I’d want to put my own spin on it but it’s a great starting point if I’m struggling for inspiration. From the imagery side, there’s a number of notable examples. Let’s take Lensa AI, an application allowing users to transform their pictures using AI, whether it be special effects or subtle retouches. Furthermore, here’s another example of AI showing its creative prowess: the painting of Edmond De Belamy.
This image above was painted by Obvious Art (a company with a mission to showcase the creative side of AI) using Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs). When put up for auction at Christies in New York the painting didn’t just sell, it sold at almost forty-five times its high estimate!
The two examples I’ve shared are just one of many applications of Generative AI. As more use cases ranging from drug design to AI portraits expand at a rate of noughts, I’ll turn to the crux of this article:
Will Generative AI kill creativity?
In my view, Generative AI won’t kill creativity. Let’s first approach it from a human perspective. Thinking creatively is like a whisky: the ingredients to make a good one don’t come from a singular entity.
Instead, it takes years of practice, thinking, experience, and plenty of human interaction. The more you share thoughts around a whiteboard, the more the ideas and improved knowledge come from, and as a result, I don’t believe AI on its own can achieve this.
It’ll get close, but in my view, it’ll not directly replace the cumulative effect of knowledge exchange, ideas, and emotions between humans. From a business perspective, it’s important to remember AI is a tool.
Although Venture Capital firms have invested over $1.7 billion in Generative AI-based solutions over the past three years, the combination of scalability, commercialism, and expertise needs human input and guidance.
I’m therefore of the view that whilst companies moving forward will find creative ways to utilize AI, human input will run alongside these systems to ensure there’s consideration of ethics combined with a maximum return on investment from both a profitability and efficiency standpoint.
What’s next for Generative AI?
In light of the above, the future of Generative AI will create an insightful array of perspectives. I’m personally of the view technologies of this nature are catalysts in helping people create Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) for new ventures, as well as encouraging practitioners to continually reflect on how ethical standards within Emerging Technologies can be maintained.
Where will Generative AI take us next, and what new industries could it help pioneer? With the current pace of things, I don’t think it’ll be long till we find out!
Bibliography
- Gartner. (n.d.). Beyond ChatGPT: The Future of Generative AI for Enterprises. [online] Available at: https://www.gartner.com/en/articles/beyond-chatgpt-the-future-ofgenerative-ai-for-enterprises.
- Anon, (n.d.). Edmond De Belamy – Obvious. [online] Available at: https://obviousart.com/portfolio/edmond-de-belamy/.
- Christie's (2018). Is artificial intelligence set to become art’s next medium? [online] Christies.com. Available at: https://www.christies.com/features/A-collaborationbetween-two-artists-one-human-one-a-machine-9332-1.aspx.
- Anon, (n.d.). Obvious – Art & AI. [online] Available at: https://obvious-art.com.
Ana Simion is the CEO of INRO London, a Bespoke Product Design company, and the Institute Director at The Simion Institute of Innovation.
Her expertise is frequently called upon across academia as a Board Advisor in Emerging Technologies, where she’s heavily involved in Guest Lecturing and Curriculum Reform within the Computer and Data Sciences as well as industry, where she regularly contributes her knowledge through Advisory Councils, keynotes (Including the likes of London Tech Week, Women in AI), podcasts (ie: Business of Data) and written articles.
