"If I come to know that AI has stolen my art work, I will come back as a ghost, and sure have my vengeance!" 💜

Is AI a TOOL or a THREAT to human creativity?

The Great Debate | II BA English Class

#classactivity

Today, being a Saturday, the II BA Class was all geared up for their battle of wits.

The topic I gave them was, Is AI a TOOL or a THREAT to human creativity?

While 18 students were in favour of AI as a Tool, 40 of them sided with AI as a Threat!

AI can be a threat only when you fully depend on it. It becomes a very good TOOL, when you use it to ignite the spark within you, said Gifson speaking in favour of AI as a TOOL.

Wait! But why do you guys need a ‘spark’ to ignite your creativity, when you have the fire of creativity deep within you, retorted Akshaya.

“Well, my sister wanted to be an artist. But she couldn’t be consistent in her output. But when she got prompts from AI, she was able to get the spark and she was able to come up with her artistic output on a consistent basis. This is the spark that we meant.”

But don’t you guys think that creativity is something that’s uniquely, inherently human, and that differentiates us from the machines? 

Everyone is gifted in their own sweet ways. I personally feel that the search for inspiration is a journey. The moment you rely on AI for your spark, you guys are missing out on a big journey, said Iniyan.

People rely on AI because of their sheer laziness. These food delivery apps are an example for this. They give us prompts to amplify our laziness.

But wait! Prompt engineers today are using their creativity through AI to get what they need. Eg. You need a building plan, and prompt engineers make use of their skills to guide powerful AI models to generate and refine architectural concepts, ideas, and even preliminary designs.

AI is a job killer especially for creative artists. Artists today are having a tough time finding employment because of the advent of AI in the field of art, said Pompei.

But let me ask you this question! How many of you have ChatGPT installed in your mobile. Almost all of us, right? If it’s a threat, would you all be using it in your mobile phone? Never. 

Only because it’s a tool you use it. So you all agree that it’s a tool, and not a threat! Moreover, those of us who cannot go directly to the Himalayas, always stand a chance of feeling the aura of the Himalayas through AI, said Veda.

Why do you guys need AI Himalayas, when there are such lovely literary texts written by humans on Himalayas, said Shruti.

Someone said that AI is a job-killer. I don’t agree to that. When a person has extraordinary skills, and ample experience, nobody can steal away your job. 

Maybe just around 20% of the jobs are being replaced by AI. But we shouldn’t forget the fact that, today AI and ChatGPT is used for emotional support, especially in the realm of mental health support. 

It also helps in recreating memories by bringing alive photos of our grandparents from the distant past, alive before our eyes, said Gifson.

Already we are using just around a fraction of our brain in our everyday life. If we depend on AI for our creativity, then our brain will start rusting, isn’t it?

Our opponent Shruti said that, we can enjoy the aura of the Himalayas by reading books. But all these books are available as e-books as well.

Gifson said that, if you have skill and experience, no one can pluck away our jobs. But in a capitalist world, if you don’t get the right kind of opportunity, you don’t land yourself a good job.

An advertisement is made through agencies. The lyric writer, the script writer, the music director, amongst a host of people are involved in the making of an ad. But if AI takes over this zone, then all of them end up losing their jobs.

Gifson said we are using AI for our emotional support. But wait? This only says that we have fallen back in our capacity as humans, when we reply on AI for our emotional support. The basic responsibility of human beings is to help each other in times of their emotional crisis.

Let me clarify my point. Many make use of AI for their mental health support system, only because of two reasons – one is poor access to proper mental health care in the vicinity. Secondly, the high cost of consultation fee for mental health support.

But wait! We do our studies for three years to five years for our literature or art degrees. However, all our hardwork, our experience and our learning is destroyed in just seconds, by AI. And that’s why I feel that, AI steals creativity, AI is so disrespectful of creativity, AI degrades creativity, and robs our creativity without permission, said Eshall.

I am a writer, and I use AI for inspiration, but not to replace my creativity. You see, it’s just impossible to get permission from the lakhs of authors from all over the world – most of them like Shakespeare would be dead long past. 

Even we are reading most of these legends for our literature. We did not get their permission for it, did we? So I personally feel that AI is not a threat but a tool.

AI is a propaganda for the capitalist to push people to always be dependent on their Capitalist modes of disseminating power and knowledge. This in a way hampers the intellect, and steals our self-reliance.

Hayao Miyazaki, the creator of the Ghibli art style, himself admitted that, AI art is “an insult to life itself”.

Miyazaki himself was a strong advocate for traditional, hand-drawn animation, where every line and movement comes from a human being’s lived experience, empathy, and hard work. For him, art is an expression of the human spirit, and a machine that can create an image without understanding pain or life is an affront to that very principle.

Wait! All of us human beings are imitators. Right from our childhood imitation is a crucial, innate, and deeply ingrained part of what makes us human. It is not just about mindlessly copying others, but it is a powerful mechanism for social learning, cultural transmission, and cognitive development. As such, we are just trying to imitate Ghibli art style through AI. I don’t think that’s wrong at all.

If William Shakespeare came to know about this, he’d come out of his grave and scream out, ‘Don’t kill creativity. Creativity is deeply tied to our personal experiences, emotions, and consciousness. An artist creates a painting to express grief, a composer writes a symphony to evoke joy, or a writer crafts a story to explore the complexities of human relationships. The work is infused with the creator's unique perspective and emotional landscape, something that an AI, at least as we understand it today, does not possess”, he’d say.

As an artist, I’d want AI to help me with my job, but I wouldn’t want AI to steal my stuff, or do my job on my behalf.

The future of humanity should be inspired by my art work. If I come to know that AI has stolen my art work, I will come back as a ghost, and sure have my vengeance!

Do you guys know something? All the info that you search or ask for in AI/Chat GPT is being released on google. They steal your data for their advantage.

Wait! AI doesn’t steal copyrighted stuff. It’s only the bad guys who do that. AI is a saviour. It works by ethics and strict parameters.

To be continued…