Let’s talk AI

I’m tweaking the question to make it a bit more interesting for myself, and hopefully, for you!

Any creatives out there, are you using AI in any way to assist your creative process?

I’ll admit I’ve turned to AI for writing prompts, but I haven’t asked it to edit or produce any writing or art of any kind. Even the writing prompt thing was occasional, nothing more. I’d ask the AI included with Snapchat for ideas. When I was feeling talkative but everyone was busy or sleeping, I would sometimes chit-chat with the AI, too, but haven’t done so in a bit.

This morning, I found out Spotify has a whole new flavor of AI, beyond the DJ feature, who had a voice, a name, and (kind of) a personality. This one is the Daylist. It’s not brand new. I’m late to the party. But the Daylist AI susses out what vibe it thinks you need based on past listening for that time and day of the week etc.

For example, this afternoon, I was Gritty Bluesy Rock. Tonight, I am Dark Pop Cyberpunk Night. It feels rather like taking an indulgent personality test. “This is who you are.” I always enjoy those. And it updates every several hours, to give you fresh sounds.

I just encountered something new-to-me for my That Wasn’t Wine (Vampire Vibes) playlist, because of Daylist.

I think AI that promotes artists seems like a good thing, but I don’t know that I would want AI messing with the actual making of art– even if it “improved” it– for fear of plagiarism. I think for me, at the moment, suggestive prompts for inspiration are as far as I am willing to go.

Would I consider asking AI for a reference image for visual art? That, I’m fuzzy on. All its creations would be copied from the work of existing, uncredited artists. If I make something riffing off that stolen art, even if I draw or paint every detail myself, is it still unethical?

What about asking AI for a title to give a piece of art or body of written work? Titles aren’t copyright-protected.

It feels like the more you examine this issue, the more complicated it becomes. Unless that’s just my woo-woo take, as we near midnight here.

It might amuse y’all to know I learned of Daylight due to an Instagram reel, where the OP had music vibe results ranging from Goblincore to Princess something or other. Their conclusion was that the pinpoint accuracy of Spotify’s AI proves we’ll never win against Skynet (bonus points if you get that sci fi reference).

At least our future overlords seem to have pretty rad taste in music?