Recently, StradigiAI held a virtual roundtable discussion on Twitter on the topic of AI & Creativity. This was a follow-up to their white paper on AI & Creativity which explores the question “What happens when technology and art intersect?” Participants included our founder Abhishek Gupta, Mark Maclean (Senior Director at MontrĂ©al International), Phil Mitsopoulos (Head of Partnerships at StradigiAI), Per Nyberg (VP, AI & Cloud at Cray), and Valentine Goddard (Founder of AI on a Social Mission).
Here’s the discussion, edited in a streamlined Q&A format.
Q1: In your opinion, is AI inherently creative? And is creativity inherently scientific?
@StradigiAI A1: Inherently creative is a strong statement, at least for #AI systems in their current form. They certainly require a bouncing back and forth between the human and machine to achieve results that aren’t characteristically “machine-like” #StradigiAIChat
— Abhishek Gupta (@atg_abhishek) May 17, 2019
What is more interesting to see is that creativity can emerge as an interplay between the human and machine in a way that surprises both. We’ve seen examples of this kind of creativity in the game of Go (@DeepMindAI )but also in other spheres like drug discovery #StradigiAIChat
— Abhishek Gupta (@atg_abhishek) May 17, 2019
Creativity overlaps with science, there are elements of science required to achieve interesting results but ultimately creativity stands as something that produces unexpected results for existing questions or poses unexpected questions to existing answers #StradigiAIChat
— Abhishek Gupta (@atg_abhishek) May 17, 2019
.@StradigiAI A1: IMO this is not a simple answer because it depends on how you define creativity. A good definition I’ve found is that creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into https://t.co/yo9DPbbPHd that context, I would say yes to both Qs #StradigiAIChat
— Mark Maclean (@MrMarkMaclean) May 17, 2019
@StradigiAI A1: AI today is driven and guided by human creativity and original thinking. It remains to be seen if AI is capable of original thought. #StradigiAIChat
— Per Nyberg (@_PerNyberg) May 17, 2019
@StradigiAI A1: IMHO, AI is inherently creative since you need creativity to solve complex problems and the creative process is a scientific one even though most don’t perceive it as being that way. #StradigiAIChat
— Phil Mitsopoulos (@PhilMitsopoulos) May 17, 2019
AI is a tool, a mathematical tool, developed by creative scientists who were thinking out of the box. AI is not creative, those who developed it were and AI researchers are. #StradigiAIChat https://t.co/cjaiBf0jrw
— Valentine Goddard (@vavacolor) May 17, 2019
Q2: A few months ago, a piece of AI-generated art was sold for over 400K. Do you think we will see the worlds of AI and creativity collaborate more in the future?
.@StradigiAI A2: I think what was interesting about that piece and the price that it fetched was more to do with the novelty of that hitting the mainstream art world than anything else. There have been more impressive uses of #AI in this space #StradigiAIChat
— Abhishek Gupta (@atg_abhishek) May 17, 2019
That said, the collaboration between the two worlds has already been happening for a while and I only see it strengthening in the coming few months and years. Reason for that being simple: the combination of human and machine has almost always “outperformed” human #StradigiAIChat
— Abhishek Gupta (@atg_abhishek) May 17, 2019
“Performance” in creativity is of course very subjective, but I feel like we’re in the early Chess days with how humans and machines work together and we’ll start to see some very interesting results emerge as more artists realize the potential that #AI brings #StradigiAIChat
— Abhishek Gupta (@atg_abhishek) May 17, 2019
.@StradigiAI A2: The short answer is yes, we will definitely see more AI human collaboration in all art. AI will be able to be used as a tool to create art (Deepdream), help artists through mental blocks (I’ve seen some cool stuff online from @pcastr) and more #StradigiAIChat
— Mark Maclean (@MrMarkMaclean) May 17, 2019
@StradigiAI A2: Absolutely, we will see more and more of this in the future! Just looking at the music industry, we’re already seeing numerous examples of music being created through the collaboration between humans and AI. #StradigiAIChat
— Phil Mitsopoulos (@PhilMitsopoulos) May 17, 2019
@StradigiAI A2: Placing value on original creativity and aesthetics is uniquely human. AI will expand the horizons of human creativity and allow for greater or new expression. #StradigiAIChat
— Per Nyberg (@_PerNyberg) May 17, 2019
I was recently in Washington where research on the impact of SciFi on #AIPolicy is absolutely mindblowing. If anything, AI has brought the importance of multidisciplinary #collaboration to new heights. @newamerica @MadelineAshby #polqc #polcan #AIethics #StradigiAIChat https://t.co/s2mehu8iJG
— Valentine Goddard (@vavacolor) May 17, 2019
Q3: What would you consider the biggest technological disruption for creative industries in the past decade?
.@StradigiAI A3: To me the most interesting pieces of work have come from combining the creative uses of existing public data, sometimes but not often with GANs. #StradigiAIChat
— Abhishek Gupta (@atg_abhishek) May 17, 2019
While the creative uses of public data can be chalked up to human creativity, there is a great element of machine #Creativity when it comes to the use of GANs, one of my favorite examples being the GauGAN made by the team at @NvidiaAI https://t.co/MKgfQFmnHo #StradigiAIChat
— Abhishek Gupta (@atg_abhishek) May 17, 2019
To me it is interesting because it brings in an element of democratization of the art form (though in a limited capacity at the moment) bringing to the masses similar benefits as did the digital camera/smartphone camera + @instagram #StradigiAIChat
— Abhishek Gupta (@atg_abhishek) May 17, 2019
.@StradigiAI A3: Not directly AI related, but it has to be distribution and access. NFLX, Hulu, SPOT all exploded under 10yrs ago. Now all you need is internet access to have access to curated collections of incredible art. This will inspire people to create more #StradigiAIChat
— Mark Maclean (@MrMarkMaclean) May 17, 2019
@StradigiAI A3: AI of course! All the platforms being used today to connect buyers with sellers rely on artificial intelligence technology. Nowhere is this more true than in the creative economy, whether it’s in music, film, gaming, advertising, arts or fashion! #StradigiAIChat
— Phil Mitsopoulos (@PhilMitsopoulos) May 17, 2019
@StradigiAI A3: The convergence of multiple technologies. Internet, telecomm, mobile, AI, big data, computing that in combination have expanded everything from artistic mediums to a company’s ability to reach and understand their customers. #StradigiAIChat
— Per Nyberg (@_PerNyberg) May 17, 2019
#StradigiAIChat VR and AR are the perfect example of #art and #technology coming together to immerse us in a fictional situations that generate reactions (emotions, thoughts). VR and AR are used beneficially in psychiatry, surgery, education. #TechforGood #mentalhealth @EiasSaih https://t.co/hpEFYqSOV6
— Valentine Goddard (@vavacolor) May 17, 2019
Q4: Which creative industries would benefit most from using AI?
For example in the case of ad agencies trying to make pieces of content that better connect with audiences, it might help to utilize #AI to potentially arrive closer to how we might elevate the experience for those people. #StradigiAIChat
— Abhishek Gupta (@atg_abhishek) May 17, 2019
.@StradigiAI A4: I would say the music industry will continue to benefit most from using AI. Music industry already has many ways to use AI (see @landr_music as a great MTL example) and the way music uses patterns is well suited to use AI to generate melodies #StradigiAIChat
— Mark Maclean (@MrMarkMaclean) May 17, 2019
@StradigiAI A4: The creative industries that have lots of mundane tasks will benefit the most from AI. Looking at filmmaking, 99% of the work is actually very repetitive, going through hundreds of hours of video to arrive at the best pieces to use. #StradigiAIChat
— Phil Mitsopoulos (@PhilMitsopoulos) May 17, 2019
@StradigiAI A4: At first those that have a strong digital foundation and that will vary by company. But since human creativity plays such a key role in AI’s adoption and advancement, initial laggards could quickly become leaders and disruptors. #StradigiAIChat
— Per Nyberg (@_PerNyberg) May 17, 2019
#machinelearning is used to facilitate lengthy process in #animation and used by the gaming industry such as @UbisoftMTL to render high quality visuals. @CDRINMatane (of which I am a super proud Board Member!) uses #ML to render images of the ocean. #mernumerique #StradigiAIChat https://t.co/60XlVybIhF
— Valentine Goddard (@vavacolor) May 17, 2019
Q5: What advice would you have for “traditional” businesses looking to amplify creativity in their organizations through technology?
In my work in #AI I’ve noticed far too many folks focusing on the new and shiny tools coming out without really being able to drill into why they need to use and how they can derive maximum value out of it. #StradigiAIChat
— Abhishek Gupta (@atg_abhishek) May 17, 2019
.@StradigiAI A5: IMO for a “traditional” business to be creative, someone with an outside perspective needs to evaluate. Without having someone from outside have a fresh look, ideas will be recycled and safe. There needs to be 0 risk when offering new ideas #StradigiAIChat
— Mark Maclean (@MrMarkMaclean) May 17, 2019
@StradigiAI A5: For me, the best advice I’d give traditional businesses is to use technology to promote cross-department collaboration. For example, the way the @StradigiAI team built the ASL demo. https://t.co/9HOUjt41KX #StradigiAIChat
— Phil Mitsopoulos (@PhilMitsopoulos) May 17, 2019
@StradigiAI A5: Accelerate their digital transformation which is underpinned by data and infrastructure + a skilled collaborative workforce that thrives across disciplines and technology #StradigiAIChat
— Per Nyberg (@_PerNyberg) May 17, 2019
As AI booms, the economic prosperity it generates musn’t kill the vibrant creativity we have here in #Montreal. San Fransisco is grey city now. #StradigiAIChat https://t.co/zNQVVWga40
— Valentine Goddard (@vavacolor) May 17, 2019