Ai music

[Thumpalumpacus]

Formula applies in all genres of art. Where AI is fail is that it digests formula without thinking to break it.

It’s not even that. If it breaks formula, it’s because it doesn’t even understand the subtleties of how the formula’s supposed to work.

Case in point: the bedroom scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey





2001 being 2001, the novel is a lot clearer than the film, naturally, but even in the film, it’s clearly something aliens made for Dave because they thought it’d be more familiar and more comfortable for him, but the subtle things are very off. And it’s not because they thought these changes would be an interesting touch on an old classic. It’s because they’re building something they don’t understand.

Themes and tropes happen in human art because they touch upon emotions that humans the world over feel -- joy, anxiety, fear, fearlessness, uncertainty, ennui, and so on. And yes, those feelings do indeed get bottled and sold by human exponents using a slow, analog form of AI, by many so-called artists -- Thomas Kinkade, Bay City Rollers, Nora Ephron, Kenny G. But the thing for me is that while humans can shake, rattle, and roll the algorithm, is AI able to break the chains? Humans can. Humans do. But AI searches middle-of-the-road stuff and winds up finding roadkill.

We all use building-blocks of language and feeling, but we still can build our own edifices.