What Matters: Human Creativity within the Age of AI

An earlier What Matters occasion this semester examined Bowdoin’s group norms and requirements; the subsequent will deal with pupil activism. Gregori and Borne additionally launched a brand new What Matters format to encourage individuals to take a stroll whereas chatting about weighty issues like immigration, gun security, and financial inequality.

For the AI trade of concepts, Gregori and Broene invited Anya Workman and Reed Johnson to assist get the dialog flowing. Workman is one in every of Bowdoin’s two post-baccalaureate AI fellows, and Reed Johnson, a senior lecturer in Russian, East European, and Eurasian research, is researching individuals’s attitudes towards AI-generated music, visible artwork, and literature.

After individuals shared their preliminary emotions on the subject, Workman offered a brief quiz. She performed snippets from three songs and requested attendees to guess whether or not they had been created by AI, people, or a mix—after which to share with their neighbor how they reached their conclusions.

It was troublesome to inform the distinction. Only one pupil within the room bought all three right. Over the subsequent ninety minutes, the scholars examined what it means to stay in an age when computer systems could make artwork that’s indistinguishable from human-made work.

One stated he has misgivings, although he thought AI has a task to play in creativity. Many others pointed to how a lot know-how—like software program and apps, cellphone cameras, and high-performance computer systems—has already helped to supply artwork we admire and take into account deeply human. 

Yet many expressed a sense of “irk” or “ickiness” when encountering works recognized to be created by AI—or one thing that looks like it’s “posing as human.” As one pupil put it, “You want to listen to music or see art that took effort.”

The dialog then shifted as to if AI “democratizes” artwork by enabling extra individuals to create and afford it, or whether or not what makes artwork significant is the constraints underneath which it’s made and the way uncommon it’s.

Johnson puzzled whether or not AI would possibly energy a surge in human creativity—if used as an assistant or software, or if it reduces the each day drudgery of working lives to provide individuals time and area for inspiration.

Others nervous about what AI is perhaps doing to our considering—whether or not our minds will deteriorate the extra we depend on good machines to unravel issues or generate concepts (like essay prompts). Already, some famous, Google and smartphones have diminished our capacity to memorize details.

Mauricio Cuba Almeida ’27, a neuroscience and music main, defined that he got here out for the night dialogue as a result of he anticipates AI will play an enormous position in no matter profession he enters. “In any field, it’s important to understand AI to apply it ethically,” he stated.