#54: Navigating Creativity in the Era of Great Disruptions
#54: Navigating Creativity in the Era of Great Disruptions
First impressions on generative AI <> creativity
Generative AI is here to stay. Highly likely it’ll affect all of us, no matter who you are. If this is true then, as creatives, how do we navigate this new world we’re about to enter? Where do we even begin?
This post is not just for people who traditionally identify with the word, ‘Creatives’. This is for anyone who is in the business of finding fulfilling and highly impactful work, whatever this means for you.
Ideas I’ve covered on this post:
Reflections on Generative AI
ChatGPT-3 and OpenAI’s Playground: notes from a casual user
As creatives, why should we care to use these tools?
Select reading materials on this topic
I’ve been wrestling with these two highly contrasting scenarios for a while now:
Doom and gloom = AI bad. We’ll all lose our jobs, our self-worth, our purpose, our craft. ORRRRR
THE BEST, MOST CREATIVE FUTURE EVER = AI good. We’ll all be doing the work we’re supposed to be doing (& what I think we are born to do): create fun and useful things for people, express our humanity through art, and similar themes.
I think we will be somewhere in the middle but the spectrum will vary just as current realities vary. What is dystopian to some can be utopian to others. These inequalities of our experiences is worth talking about because it is just as relevant now as it will continue to be in the future, especially as AI takes over. Maybe for a future post. For now, I will talk about this intersection: Generative AI <> Creativity.
GENERATIVE AI — It is not a fad or some trend. It is here and there is no going back. Just look closely at where the money is flowing and you’ll realize just how true this is. This is just from being a casual observer with an interest in this topic. I have yet to do some serious digging on this (and I’m willing to bet there’s a lot more to all of this than what’s currently visible).
So, where do we go from here? How do we navigate this currently explosive, overwhelming, weirdly familiar landscape of the world? (Because if we indeed learn anything from modern history, we would know that whatever happens to tech WILL happen to the world. It is more of a question of ‘When’ not ‘If’ at this point.)
We…
Either ignore this, until we can’t. Be blissfully happy and protected from all of this… whatever this is. OR
Face it courageously, confront our fears, jump into the unknown and learn everything that we can about this. For the sake of our future.
As scary as it is—I’ve seen Black Mirror and Terminator—I’m on the side of #2. This is not a surprise, I’ve been talking about this since this newsletter started. (see: #13: Crises and Evolutions, #22: Our North Star)
From #22: Our North Star:
Some questions I’m personally thinking about:
How might we effectively raise kids in the age of AI?
How might we transform education and innovate with the needs of both the student and the teacher in mind?
How might we train the next generation for the jobs that does not exist yet?
How might we encourage a better and more sustainable growth mindset without sacrificing our mental and physical health?
How might we bring out the genius in each and every one of us, regardless of what age or stage we are in?
How might we live in a world where contribution is abundant, and the contributors are diverse, and inclusive?
How might we eradicate hopelessness in society by spearheading optimistic, and revolutionary changes in every area of how we live?
How might we raise a generation of makers, doers and extraordinary people who can turn a lot of things around?
I had the chance to play around and use OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Playground over the last few weeks. Here are my extremely short notes on this:
AI AS…
…a creative assistant and editor
👍🏽 It’s good for initial brainstorming.
👎🏽 There’s a lack of serendipity that comes with talking to real life humans.
From the screenshot below: As an experiment, I asked OpenAi’s text-davinci-003 model (model they are currently using for Chat-GP3) via Playground to criticize my short LinkedIn post. The results are pretty evergreen, although it makes a good point. I continued to tweak my prompt and specified my request even better.
This is the meat-and-potatoes of prompt-based AI’s so far: the more specific you are with your vision, the better the output will be. This means that, at least for now, AI is merely just a tool. The real work is still heavily reliant on the user’s creativity, imagination and curiosity.
…a ~general productivity partner
👍🏽 It’s conversational and hardly feels like I’m talking to a robot.
👎🏽 Output is pretty generic no matter how much I tweak the conversation (‘prompt’). I suspect this will get better over time.
…an antidote to ‘writer’s block’
👀 The UX is dangerously addictive. It is fun. If you like text-based interactions, this will feel like magic.
👎🏽 It feels like the output is constantly being recycled.
“When it comes to writing, things are not that easy. If you do not understand the foundation of what you write, it’s not likely that you will end up with a text that has been felt and understood in every aspect. Writing is rewriting and rewriting until the thought becomes clear. AI may help here and there pointing you to unclear elements, but if AI writes for you, you will stop thinking.” - The End of Writing
In terms of usefulness so far:
👍🏽 At best, it’s like talking to an eager, driven intern.
👎🏽 At worst, it’s like playing a game of text-based squash. Only that you are alone, with a wall. That says absolutely nothing you don’t know already. (Relative to your own personal expertise on the subjects you are testing the AI with, of course.)
Try it for:
Scratching that itch of curiosity for new things (even if this is not your thing, with the way things are going, some form of it will be ubiquitous on everyone’s lives in the near future)
Getting less scared of the unknown. The more familiar you are with your fears, the less intimidating it gets to confront it. In theory, anyway.
Ease boredom, in a really weird, alice-in-wonderland rabbit holes way. End of the day, it really does feel like a rabbit hole we’ll never get out of.
Flex your imagination and creativity. The barrier-to-entry has never been this low. The size of your imagination will reflect the quality of the experience you will have with it.
Test basic ideas. It does not discriminate. Its honesty is a godsend. Its lack of judgment to how bad an idea is is one of its biggest assets. Compared to a human counterpart, it will never say ‘I’m not interested in your idea’.
I’m sure there’s a myriad of other things generative AI is good for and why we should be cautiously optimistic with it. Cautiously. Like everything else, we shouldn’t go into it blindly though. We should learn to look at this from EVERY angle we can possibly think of.
This is the time for a lot of questions, constant observations and significant reflections on the present and future implications of AI. No matter what happens, we will not regret looking closely into this as early as possible. It is our best chance of staying ahead, having a locus of control and ultimately winning. Fellow creatives, whatever discipline you are on, whichever philosophy you subscribe to, whichever side of the fence you are in on AI: do not sleep on this thing.
When face with the unknown and the uncertainty, I would want know as much about what I don’t know. Otherwise, it will be terribly difficult to make good decision and strategies in the near future. It’s not possible to cover everything. At some point, we’ll need to be comfortable with that.
In my opinion, just by actively learning about all of this already would make one ahead of a lot of people (who are unaware).
I will not sleep on AI. It is the one thing that is incredibly hard to ignore for the next few decades.
“As AI finally emerges into an age of utility, the opportunities for new, AI-first products are immense. Soon, we will live in a world where, regardless of your programming abilities, the main limitations are simply curiosity and imagination.” - Wired, Human and AI Will Understand Each Other Better Than Ever
Curated reading materials on this:
Prompts.chat — GREAT RESOURCE
The practical guide to using AI to do stuff — AMAZING substack from this Wharton Professor
I’ll be exploring this topic even deeper over the next few posts. Stay tuned.
Thank you for reading,
Nikki
Have you used any of the popular generative ai platforms lately? Let me know how it went.
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