15 years of industry expertise. Through my work I analyze the implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on cultural production and creative labor. ALBERTO LUSOLI Deputy director SSHRC Postdoctoral fellow NICE TO MEET YOU
A GAME Lucio Fontana, 1961. Concetto Spaziale [Spatial Concept]. Photo credits: Jean Louis Mazieres ▪ Grab a pen/pencil/crayon/chalk ▪ Index card on your desk ▪ Close your eyes
Credits: Runway, Gen-3 Alpha. Prompt: a recreation of Lucio Fontana artwork "Spatial Concept" ▪ Focus the first thing that comes to mind when you think about creativity; ▪ Draw it on the index card; ▪ Keep it anonymous; ▪ This is not an assignment 😊
It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform. It can follow analysis, but it has no power of anticipating any analytical relations or truths.’’ (Lovelace, 1843:) Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace Author: Alfred Edward Chalon MACHINIC CREATIVITY
It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform. It can follow analysis, but it has no power of anticipating any analytical relations or truths.’’ (Lovelace, 1843:) MACHINIC INTELLIGENCE AND CREATIVITY Alan Turing statue by Stephen Kettle Source: Wikimedia Common Who can be certain that ‘original work’ that he has done was not simply the growth of the seed planted in him by teaching, or the effect of following well-known general principles.” (Touring, 1950) MACHINIC CREATIVITY
ideas that might arise as to the powers of the Analytical Engine. In considering any new subject, there is frequently a tendency, first, to overrate what we find to be already interesting or remarkable; and, secondly, by a sort of natural reaction, to undervalue the true state of the case, when we do discover that our notions have surpassed those that were really tenable.’’ (Lovelace, 1843: 722) MACHINIC CREATIVITY Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace Author: Alfred Edward Chalon
about your most memorable experience. Tell me about your experience in the back of the index card. When done, consider donating your card by putting it in the envelope. I will return results with a commentary on Canvas. It’s just for the lulz, not an assignment! SURPRISED BY A MACHINE?!? Credits: Runway, Gen-3 Alpha. Prompt: an anthropomorphized computer with a funny, surprised face
complex problems is very small compared with the size of the problems whose solution is required for objectively rational behavior in the real world— or even for a reasonable approximation to such objective rationality” (Simon, 1957) Credits: Marco Verch BOUNDED RATIONALITY
novel solutions through the combination of three resolution strategies: 1. Selective trial and error; 2. Abstraction; 3. Pattern identification. Credits: Marco Verch CREATIVITY AS PROBLEM SOLVING
Credits: Runway, Gen-3 Alpha. Prompt: an abstract representation of the concept of creativity • The tool perspective (weak CC): Computer and software applications as support for human creativity; • Computer as creative agents perspective (strong CC): ◦ CC researchers seek to endow machines with the ability to achieve ends that would be deemed creative if achieved by humans
▪ Creativity as including non human and natural actors; ▪ Elements from the natural world as bearer of creative agency. Credits: Runway, Gen-3 Alpha. Prompt: posthuman creativity
be creative because they are just as limited as humans Computers can produce outputs deemed as creative by humans Creativity is a process Creativity is relational Converging Diverging One best solution Multiple valid solutions
Not “what”, but “where is creativity?”: Towards a relational-materialist approach to generative AI. AI & SOCIETY. Capitalism Work practices Technology, AI
economies: production of goods. Manual labor; ▪ Postindustrial economies: production of immaterial goods and services. Intellectual labor. CREATIVE LABOR (WORK) PRACTICES - ARRANGEMENTS (CAPITALISM)
in a very playful and colourful office CREATIVITY AS LABOR ▪ Creative labor is valuable but also difficult to control; ▪ Soft control systems in the workplace: ◦ agile and flexible organization of labor; ◦ design-thinking inspired product development methodologies; ▪ AI risks prioritizing convergent vs divergent thinking. (WORK) PRACTICES - ARRANGEMENTS (CAPITALISM)
Hunger Games, The Twilight saga, La La Land, John Wick, etc.); • The agreement grants Runway complete access to Lionsgate’s archive for training a custom model; • Lionsgate’s artists concerned about being removed from production;. (WORK) PRACTICES - ARRANGEMENTS (CAPITALISM)
domain archive ARTIFACTS (AI) - ARRANGEMENTS (CAPITALISM) AUTOMATION ENTERS THE OFFICE Labor process scholars argued that the automation of production processes, for instance through the introduction of Computer Aided Design (CAD) software, limited workers' autonomy and intensified their reliance on capitalists-owned means of production.
AI IN CREATIVE INDUSTRIES Credits: alleksana “Generative AI technologies built on large language models owe their existence to our writings. These technologies mimic and regurgitate our language, stories, style, and ideas. Millions of copyrighted books, articles, essays, and poetry provide the “food” for AI systems, endless meals for which there has been no bill.” The Authors’ Guild Open Letter to Generative AI Leaders Credits: Wikimedia Commons
Which skills, knowledges, and professional figures will be empowered, and which ones will be degraded by the introduction of AI-powered means of creative production?
A. (2024). Not “what”, but “where is creativity?”: Towards a relational-materialist approach to generative AI. AI & SOCIETY. Capitalism Work practices Technology, AI
compensate for the creative input provided by the thousand (million) of people who created (wittingly or not) the datasets on which AI models are trained? ARTIFACTS (AI) - (WORK) PRACTICES
Source: Csikszentmihalyi M, Sawyer K (2014) Shifting the focus from individual to organizational creativity. The systems model of creativity. Springer,
Source: Csikszentmihalyi M, Sawyer K (2014) Shifting the focus from individual to organizational creativity. The systems model of creativity. Springer,
websites, and artificial intelligence systems can be hard to see—in fact, it’s often intentionally hidden. We call this opaque world of employment ghost work” (Gray & Suri, 2019) ARTIFACTS (AI) - (WORK) PRACTICES
developer? 2. Where does human creativity end and AI assistance begin? 3. What responsibilities do we hold when our work is augmented by AI? Photo: Startup Weekend Hackathon. Nov.2014 GROUP QUESTIONS IN-CLASS ACTIVITY
A brains factory. ▪ Context: From industrial to post-industrial economies. ▪ In this context, national governments developed policies for supporting the development of creative industries. ▪ Ok, but what makes an industry creative? ◦ In short, every industry producing new intellectual property rights is a creative industry. CREATIVITY AS AN INDUSTRY
creativity as a form of capital; ▪ Capital is anything that confers value or benefit to its owners; ▪ Creative class: the group of people who possess creative capital.
post-industrial economies. ▪ In this context, national governments developed policies for supporting the development of creative industries. ▪ Ok, but what makes an industry creative? ◦ In short, every industry producing new intellectual property rights is a creative industry. CREATIVITY AND URBANISM Austin, TX Credits: Jeremy Doddridge.
From industrial to post-industrial economies. ▪ In this context, national governments developed policies for supporting the development of creative industries. ▪ Ok, but what makes an industry creative? ◦ In short, every industry producing new intellectual property rights is a creative industry. THE CREATIVE ETHOS
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