Neural networks and machine learning have been used in making artistic pieces that have been sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. GANs (Generative Adversarial Networks) have been introduced in not more than five years ago and they have almost revolutionized the way that computers create things. Some computer scientists believe that computer can have creativity because of it. My question is, can these things be called “art”?
Taking a look at different sources, we see almost similar definitions of art everywhere; it’s created by human for appreciating the beauty or expressing emotions.
Computers operate like the human brain. In fact, the source of inspiration on creating first artificial neurons was the human neurons. Scientists have been trying to measure and formulate the creativity and feelings too. About 150 years ago, Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote a book called “Notes from Underground” and in that book, he argued about the fact that humans are in love with measuring things, maybe because it makes them feel powerful. It’s reasonable to think that as humans get more powerful and knowledgeable, they decide to measure and take control of more things inside themselves or outside.
There are two sides to a human being; logic and feeling. AI started trying to stimulate and enhance the way the logic works and then, after it found the technology to do so, it started trying to stimulate the feelings too. But there is one big problem; even if we can measure the pre-existing feelings, we can’t create new ones; At least not by using mathematics. There are invisible layers in a human which create emotions and it’s not just connected to the brain; It’s not our neurons themselves, it’s the power that’s affects what’s being put inside the neurons.
When a music composer writes a piece of music after a tragic loss or any other human feeling based on a thought or an experience, that feeling is buried and inserted in those combination of musical notes. No matter how good the quality of the recording is or who plays that piece of music, that feeling is put on that piece of music forever. Computers can never have and experience feelings as good as humans. This is what art is about; sharing and expressing thoughts or experiences, something beyond the logical side of humanity. You love a piece of art because you somehow relate to it.
Maybe when AI becomes so powerful that it creates pieces of art as beautiful as the ones human make (at least on the surface), humans may start to re-evaluate the fact that the product that they’re observing is not the real art; it’s not as pleasing as the things that other humans make because the most important thing about art may not be the end product; it’s the intention and the idea behind it. You love a piece of art because you are relating to the message that you think is hidden inside it. To be more precise, you may not exactly relate to the exact feeling that the artist had when he/she was creating it; everybody can relate to anything on their individual level and their own way and this is one other amazing thing about true art. A single piece of music can be loved by hundreds of people but interpreted differently by each single person. In a few years, AI might be able to replace all the scientists and engineers but it can never replace one thing, human feelings and creativity.
It hit me when I saw the David Bowie’s Space Oddity cover by Chris Hadfield (linked here) recorded when he was on International Space Station; literally on the space. Real art doesn’t care about who you are and where you are; when you love a peace of art, it’s always with you. Just like Andy says in the movie Shawshank Redemption; “It was in here…in here. That’s the beauty of music. They can’t get that from you. Haven’t you ever felt that way about music?”
All this being said, I, myself, am a computer engineer and I love AI. I’m not scared about singularity (the hypothesis that argues about the fact that eventually computer’s superintelligence will pass the human intelligence and will become more powerful than it) or anything.
AI may replace engineers, doctors, businessmen, etc but it can’t replace the creativity of human beings. Computers, as creations of humans, can just stimulate human feelings and creativity in an artificial way using binary logical equations and can’t be nearly as powerful as a real human!
So, no worries!
