How to Use AI While Preserving The Human Element

Here’s how creative-tech startups can keep the human element alive while using AI as a tool.

March 21, 2023

Artificial intelligence (AI) is used extensively in creative industries but raises ethical and legal concerns. AI models are trained on large datasets without permission from their creators, and they often override what connects consumers with art in the first place, the human element, says Dr. Patrick Hutchings, head of AI at Aimi. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is taking creative industries by storm, challenging how we make music, produce films, and write. It may seem like magic, but the power of AI rests in complex machine learning and technical processes that, although they save time and money, have major ethical and legal concerns.

If addressed, the two issues presented will help creator-tech startups in 2023 avoid major ethical issues and ultimately have a healthier relationship with artificial intelligence. 

Understanding the AI Craze

 AI is prevalent across a wide range of creative circles. Music, architecture, photography, film, and design industries are increasingly adopting machine learning for specific creative and technical processes. Some industries have adopted AI tech faster, such as photography, where AI is built into cameras, apps, editing software, and printers. Industries like music, however, have had a much slower uptake of AI given that it is a specialized interest for the more technologically explorative.

Many creative startups are drawn to its power simply for financial reasons. AI technology allows for faster character animation, better image performance on cheaper cameras, and greater speed to find files with a particular image quickly. Less time and money spent on technical processes means more can be focused on the creative practice itself.  

 For others, embracing new technology by finding a new aesthetic or applying tech in a different way is a thrilling part of being a creative practitioner. Creative industries are often at the forefront of technology, both pushing and adopting its advances.

 In some cases, new creative industries are ushered in by new tech, bringing with them a wave of creatives with different backgrounds and skill sets. The first photographers weren’t necessarily portrait painters, and prompt engineers are often not graphic designers.

Issues With Permissions

 The big trade many of us made when the social media wave of the early 2000s took over was giving away our words and images in exchange for reach and connection. This led to a cultural shift in views of ownership and value of this media in particular.

To be trained, AI systems currently rely on being fed many examples through a machine learning model. It isn’t guaranteed that the model won’t remember some examples exactly or in a reasonably high level of detail. It is common for text and image models to be trained on massive photos and text datasets without their creators’ permission.

In some creative areas purchasing enough licenses to create these datasets is so expensive that people have skipped this step. Companies have produced models that can recreate artifacts similar to those the model was trained on without having permission to use the originals for training. Significant ethical and legal implications for this will have a ripple effect through multiple creative industries.

See More: What AI Regulations From the EU and FTC Mean

Industries Are Doing It Right

 Film and music, both technically harder to produce completely with AI models, also have industries that have maintained a very active role in protecting the copyright of creators. As such, these industries will likely see a larger use of AI used as tools for creators instead of end-to-end content generators. These industries are so well organized and influential that they are likely to lead the charge in legislative and technological pushback on models exploiting unlicensed training content.

Companies that will succeed in this space are those that can understand the value of creative work and find technical and social solutions. For example, optimizing model design for smaller datasets where permission can be obtained for every item.

Issues With Machine Creativity

People ultimately crave relationships. Using the music industry as an example, we know that music is one of the most powerful, emotive forms of communication we associate with important moments and people. Fully AI-generated music will have its place but won’t replace music created by people, even if our definition of ownership in the creative process broadens.

Music is more than sound, it is communication, and the message is intrinsically bound to its source. A song about heartbreak has meaning because we connect to the person singing it and relate to its message. However, not all music needs to be deeply personal and poetic  – it can be a good beat to dance to.

While AI can be very good at performing certain tasks, it is important to preserve the human element in AI because it reflects and respects the values and priorities of humans. AI should be used to improve the human experience and not to replace it.

Preserving What Makes Us Human

Keeping with the example of the music industry, we can preserve the human element in AI music systems by allowing humans to have control over creating the map. Branching possibilities will be made of their design instead of walking the listener down a specific path. Every path the listener takes has the creator’s stamp, but they have let go of some control in exchange for surprising moments and interactivity.

The exciting thing about creative practice is that it is up to the practitioner to choose if and how to use technology. It is important to position AI, both in its process and messaging, as a tool that aids in the human creative process instead of being the creator that uses humans as its tool. 

See More: The Evolving Role of Humans with AI

Hope for 2023: Optimizing AI Usage 

It is tempting to consider AI as ‘just another fad’ for tech enthusiasts, but it carries much larger implications for creative practice. It can have massive social implications, affect the economy of multiple industries, reduce technical barriers to entry, and blur the lines between creator and consumer in new and unexpected ways. Challenging, new, and unexpected changes are fertile grounds for creativity which we are starting to see unfold around us.

 For creator-tech startups, know that many bigger companies have more resources than you. They will be able to build bigger models faster. Stand out by putting your time into understanding the wants, needs, and concerns of the people you are building products and services for, and put your efforts into solving the right problems. Often you will find they aren’t tech problems at all.

Which do you think AI usage can be optimized for maintaining the human element?  Share your thoughts with us on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedInOpens a new window . We’d love to hear from you!

Image Source: Shutterstock

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Dr. Patrick Hutchings
Dr. Patrick Hutchings, Ph.D. Adaptive Music System & AI, is the Head of AI at Aimi. He is an expert in designing and building adaptive music systems utilizing human-in-the-loop machine learning. He holds degrees in Music (Hons) and Science and completed a Ph.D. with a thesis in Adaptive Music Scores for Interactive Media. Since joining Aimi, Patrick has contributed as a named inventor on eight patents regarding various aspects of music analysis and generation. As an accomplished jazz musician and researcher in AI and interactive music, his goal is to create the world’s best generative AI models and systems.
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