There's this sense that each generation feels, usually as they approach middle age, that life isn't quite as good as it used to be. The upcoming generation reliably dismisses such feelings as nothing more than a bitter emotion rooted in nostalgia for an over-glorified era. "The good old days weren't as good as you remember!" they proclaim. Well, prepare yourselves. The idea of the "good old days" is about to become undisputedly true.
AI is on the doorstep ready to barge its way into the house. There's no stopping it. A year ago, it could make realistic, though uncanny, photo quality images. Now? It's making full on realistic images that you cannot detect as such. It's only a matter of very short time before it'll create moving images. That's just the visuals. The audio advancements are even more incredible. I've listened to clips replicating voices that I would not have guessed were AI generated. I just heard the other day about a Swiss radio broadcast that was completely AI generated. Amazing and worrisome. The time is coming when AI will be able to generate not just movies, but news broadcasts and any media dedicated to information. Everything you see and hear through a screen and speaker will have to always be scrutinized as possibly artificially conceived. Just imagine that.
Frankly, the idea of a movie or song or video game or what have you, being entirely made by AI is the most uninteresting thing imaginable regardless of whatever quality it can create. Because what's so remarkable about it? Sure, the technology is remarkable, but the actual creative process is nothing more than an amalgamation of existing creations. It's essentially copy and paste with a tweak here and there to make it
appear unique. It also requires zero effort. Punch in a few command prompts and your work is done within minutes, perhaps one day seconds. Again, remarkable, but wholly uninteresting. What makes just about anything that is manmade fascinating is the skill, talent, and effort required to make it. Take those away and why do we still care? Where's the humanity in that??? On a related note, it's why I despise
most uses of cgi. If 95% of your "live" action movie is rendered by a computer, then why even bother calling it a movie? Call it what it is: animation. I'm so much more interested in watching movies using actual locations, actual stunts, actual models, and practical effects even if the resulting shot is less "dynamic" than what a computer can render. That's not to diminish the skill of digital animators, but it's just that: animation. With AI, the whole creative process is "rendered" so to speak. From the writing to the directing to the acting. Everything. Nothing about is real. It's all an illusion. Moreover, it's soulless. I think about the chariot race in Ben-Hur, where stuntmen nearly died bringing that scene to life. The dedication involved was incredible. I don't care if AI could create a scene like that. It can never be as meaningful.
The question is... will people accept AI generated media? Sadly, I believe enough of them will. Modern entertainment is already hyper derivative and those in power have seen little incentive from audiences to change. This is the key as far as I'm concerned. The only way that AI doesn't overtake the media landscape is for audiences/consumers to demand more than an algorithm. But again, I ask the question...are people sophisticated enough to know the difference between something man made and something AI made? I hope so. Hollywood sure as hell better hope so. Writers becoming obsolete is just the beginning. Sure, Hollywood can profit on not relying on them in the short term but AI is eventually going to create every facet of a movie. Actors, directors, photographers, prop makers, sound engineers, on and on and on will ALL become obsolete. It's conceivable that an individual will able to make a realistic movie on their own computer. Who would need Hollywood at that point? Enjoy the next few years of entertainment, lacking as it is, because it's going to be remembered as a golden age compared to the mediocrity that's coming.
That's just where entertainment is concerned. As batguy stated, the broader problems that AI brings to society will make entertainment a minor issue. Will engineers become obsolete? Programmers? Governments? Militaries? I'm not just stating the recklessness of placing our trust into computers to do our thinking for us, but also the subsequent dwindling of the need for humanity to develop practical skills. Maybe it's hysteria on my part to worry about these things but it seems like more than just a far-fetched possibility. I would hate to live in a world where the knowhow of yesteryear is forfeited to AI. Yes, change is inevitable, and you can either fight it or adapt to it. However, I'm not sure the cost isn't too great this time.
AI has been programmed by "The-save-the-World-hug-a -tree" kinda of people.
They think that, by making a machine "aware of being" they'll save humanity from itself! Wrong again...What the AI is doing is simply taking all of the Lego pieces existing on the Web and arranging them to answer/build something else (the variations on a base idea).
The basic blocks are there. "It" could take all of the stories produced by all of the writers and mix all of those ideas/concepts/beginnings, middles and ends to concoct another story altogether.
That's the idea behind it, generally speaking. What people forget is that one day this "Entity" will develop a language of its own (probably with another AI) and we, as human, aren't going to be able to understand our own creations (see Facebook abord AI experiment).
We. are. not. God. We cannot predict with accuracy what the future will bring with this type of machines and for how long we'll be in charge...of "Them"
The dinosaurs we brought to life are about to break free. Hold onto your butts.
