The ability to be creative has always been a big part of what separates human beings from machines. But today, a new generation of generative AI applications casts doubt on how vast that divide is! Tools like ChatGPT and DALL-E can perform creative tasks. They can write poems or create paintings. Often, their work looks like that of a human. Slotsgem and other creative industries are finding ways to use AI to improve user experiences.
Does this mean that computers are truly creative? Are they really being creative, or creating an illusion? Perhaps they are following a set of rules we programmed for them.
To tackle this seemingly complicated and philosophical quandary, we need to define creativity.
The Oxford Dictionary defines it as: “Using imagination or new ideas to make something.”
Imagination is key to creativity—it’s how we generate new ideas.
While the human brain remains a mystery, creativity requires thought, meaning, and originality. Scribbling randomly or copying someone else’s work isn’t creative unless we add our unique touch.
Humans create by connecting experiences and emotions to art, music, or writing. For example, writing a poem about sadness helps communicate feelings intensely and humanly. Creativity isn’t about making something—it’s about expressing something meaningful.
Generative AI
Generative AI uses machine learning to study large data sets. It creates new content by recognizing patterns it learns.
For example, if it learns from 1,000 “sun descriptions,” it will spot key traits. These include hot, massive, yellow, and roughly 100 million miles away. When asked about the sun, it uses these elements to create a response.
The exact process applies to AI-generated text, images, and music. Advanced AI models like GPT-4 use trillions of data points. This helps them create detailed and sophisticated content. They can even seem quite creative at times. Simple AIs rely on a few traits.
Let’s test this out – this is GPT-4’s (via ChatGPT Plus) response to my prompt “Write a haiku about the Sun”:
“Golden Orb Ascends
Warmth embraces Earth below
Life awakes with light.”
Now, a haiku is a very limiting form – which is why we consider the ability to write them well to be so “creative.”
The algorithm has packed a lot of knowledge, ideas, and concepts into the poem. These include the sun’s color and shape. It emits heat and shines down on Earth. This light helps support life.
I’m not a poet, but I’m human. It’s hard to share all those ideas in a haiku’s three lines with five, seven, and five syllables. Does this mean the algorithm is more creative than me? From a purely aim point of view, it seems complicated to argue that it isn’t!
Can Computers Have New Ideas?
To get closer to a definitive answer to the question, though, it’s important to remember one thing:
Even the most impressive computer art or poetry comes from bits of the data used to train it. In other words, it isn’t genuinely capable of what we would call “original thought” – having new ideas of its own.
Are humans? We have a faculty called “imagination.” This ability helps us create new ideas and concepts in our minds. How many of our original thoughts come from things we’ve seen, heard, read, or learned before? As we’ve mentioned, the human brain is still a mystery, even for psychologists and neuroscientists.
One way we differ from machines is in how we connect past experiences to new ideas. This ability reflects our humanity. We recognize these connections from what we’ve seen, heard, and read—our “training data.” They come through our perceptions, feelings, beliefs, and experiences. In short, they reflect our humanity.
After all, these feelings, beliefs, and experiences make us what we are – human. Generative AI algorithms also make connections. Yet, they do this in a probabilistic way. They find the most frequently linked words or concepts. “What shape is the Sun?” – “The Sun is an orb.”
ChatGPT Plus may know that the sun gives off heat and light and makes it possible for light to exist. But it doesn’t have its thoughts, feelings, and memories about the sun like you or I do.
The Illusion of Creativity
The key difference is that humans create using original ideas, while machines do not. AI also mimics creativity. It’s a powerful tool that helps us express ideas and stir emotions.
After all, AI models like DALL-E and GPT-4 rely entirely on human-made data. They would produce nothing more than random gibberish or messy scribbles without it.
Yet, generative AI is the closest we have come to machines that seem creative. Whether they indeed are is more a debate of semantics than fact.
As AI advances, our definition of “creativity” will evolve. We might change how we express ourselves. This could push art beyond what machines can copy. It may even redefine what it means to be human.
Conclusion
AI will definitely make us rethink what art, expression, and creativity mean. This is one of the many ways it will impact society in the years ahead. Understanding what makes us human can change how we live in the future.
0 comments