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Understanding AI Creativity

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AI is really good at summaries. As you can imagine if I can use AI to summarize a business report or even the entire contents of a book (Here’s my GPT of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep – the source for Blade Runner) it can be used to write “summary-like” content in just about any form. And that’s just what the writers and movie studios were fighting about. I’ll give you several examples.

I’ll do this by asking AI to build a few pieces of creative content.

Movies based on large bodies of work. Let’s go with Star Trek.

prompt: based on the Star Trek universe, write me an outline for a movie that takes place 300 years before the first Star Trek movie took place.

You can see the full conversation and ideas at the following link: https://bit.ly/3VTtaV1

Here are the primary conflicts in this upcoming Star Trek prequel.

  1. Tensions with Newly Encountered Alien Civilizations: As humanity takes its first steps into interstellar exploration, the crew of the Enterprise NX-01 would likely encounter resistance and mistrust from newly discovered alien species. Navigating first contact protocols, overcoming language and cultural barriers, and defending the ship from hostile alien factions could be major sources of conflict. 1
  2. Divisions Within the Xindi: The search results indicate that the Xindi were not a single species, but rather five different species that evolved concurrently on their homeworld. While united in a common cause, the Xindi still had old grudges and competing interests that the Enterprise crew could potentially exploit. Depicting the internal divisions and power struggles within this multi-species group could create compelling drama. 3
  3. Lingering Tensions from the Eugenics Wars and World War III: The search results suggest that the Eugenics Wars in the 1990s, where genetically-enhanced “supermen” attempted to seize power, led to the devastating World War III. This global conflict and its aftermath could still be shaping interspecies relations 300 years later, with lingering distrust and resentment between factions. 1 and 5
  4. Challenges of the Maquis: While not a single alien species, the Maquis were a group of rebels, mostly human but with other Federation species, who opposed the territory concessions made to the Cardassians. The search results indicate the political complexities and motivations behind the Maquis were never fully explored, presenting an opportunity to delve into these tensions in a prequel film. 3
  5. Potential for Racism and Xenophobia: The search results note that several Star Trek characters have exhibited openly racist attitudes towards alien species, despite the franchise’s purported vision of an enlightened future. Exploring how such prejudices could manifest and be challenged in the earlier stages of interspecies contact could be a compelling thematic element. 4

That’s entertainment for ya, AI-style. Notice the references after each blurb. Those are the source documents AI used to derive the story.

Turning to Pop Music

What if we could get AI to write the next blockbuster hit for Taylor Swift. Her new album drops next week, and the billionaire will see if she can beat out Beyonce’s cowboy album for a Grammy.

My ChatGPT and Perplexity experiences were less than great. Here’s my prompts with ChatGPT if you want to see what lame looks like. https://bit.ly/4auOSmJ

But, earlier this week, I used a tool called Sona to generate an entire album of Taylor Swift songs. Not just lyrics, but the music and singing as well. Give a listen to where AI is going to churn out a lot of music.  Here’s the entire FAKE album on SpotifySoundcloud, and Apple Music.

Again, there are no songs here threatening to chart anytime soon. But there are moments. Real ah-ha moments when the song hits a theme or a note just right. I injected some Easter Eggs if you listen. I made a lyric video of many of the songs so you could see what the AI was singing.

Here’s an article about the 66 songs Taylor has published that she wrote by herself. So there are a couple hundred others that she co-wrote with some of the best songwriters in the world. She’s got so much power today, she probably doesn’t have to list most of the collaborators. It sounds like this. “Taylor wants to do your song. She’s going to give you an extra half-point to keep your name off the credits. How does that sound?”

What’s happening is this: AI is going to do a bang-up job of creating a ton of mediocre content. I might say that Marvel Universe Movies and Taylor Swift songs are pretty easy to mimic, but I’d be missing my own point. AI is coming for your job. AI is already doing most of the tasks you are doing at your job if your job is in creative, technical, design, writing, coding, seo. I even work with a company that shows marketing teams how to harness *ai* for the routine tasks it does so well.

I don’t think AI is going to create a best-selling novel anytime soon. We will see how the AI-generated TV show does in the next few weeks. (It looks horrific to me.) We also know, AI will get better. The models will get bigger, the transformers smarter and more human-like. We need to think now about requiring AI-generated content to carry meta codes and watermarks to allow for easy identification. Sort of how the AIs are now following Perplexitiy’s lead in listing all sources.

If you are not concerned about AI taking your job, you probably stopped reading a long time ago. AI is coming for your job. It’s going to eliminate entire business categories. Customer support is already handled by robotic humans in India, let’s just let the AI do it. SEO, new content, a sales training video? AI has got you covered. Even Google is rolling out VIDS, and showing all the great things AI is going to do for you.

Okay, but what are we humans supposed to do with our time? Write poetry?

A few resources:

John McElhenney — let’s connect online
Facebook & LinkedIn & The Whole Parent

*image was created with AI and no mention of Taylor Swift in the prompt

A few more of my creative ai motions:

  • waltwhitman.ai < a book of “whitmanesque poetry” with zero AI
  • Radio No Head < *ai* parsed music for you to sing and dream with
  • poətic.com < my page about the ai poetry conundrum
  • hyper-soul < the science fiction exploration and world-building project
  • clickthis.ai < my team for *ai* marketing and sales acceleration

Please check out a few of my books on AMAZON

 

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