Have you listened to the new Beatles song? It took almost 50 years and new technology to create.
How did this happen? An AI system, made by Peter Jackson, uncoupled the vocals from the piano on a poor-quality tape demo from the 70s. The result – a song that would have never seen the light of day was able to bring John Lennon back from the dead to release new music for a new generation.
You can listen to it here.
via The Beatles
Was it a touching tribute and closure to an extraordinary legacy? Does it qualify as AI "art"?
We are seeing a surge in creativity due to the rise of generative AI.
People are doing amazing things with AI ... and it's making entrepreneurship accessible to a new group of people.
AI is exciting, but it is also scary. I would argue that it is a net positive. However, there are also clear drawbacks (and potential risks). For example, there are the obvious ones like deepfakes, art being stolen and fed into models without consent, etc. But, there's one that many aren't talking about...
It's a lack of nuance or understanding of art.
Here is an example of using generative AI to improve a famous art piece.
In my opinion, the creator completely missed the point when they tried to improve Nighthawks by Edward Hopper.
The truth is that I don't know their intent or thought process.
However, Nighthawks is famous for a reason. It shows a patron, presumably at a late-night diner, with a desolate urban streetscape outside. To the right audience, it embodies the isolation of a 24-hour modern society and big cities, and the hidden changes of the 20th century. It is a poignant composition and one of the most famous American art pieces.
Lost in the power of Generative AI, this X (Twitter) user transformed the piece by running it through an art processor multiple times.
First, he had AI parse the image and write a description of it. Then, he had it regenerate the image from the description. The setting became light. He thought he could make it better, so he moved people outside. He parses a description again and creates a new image again. He did this several times.
The result is what you see — a beautifully created composition lacking any depth.
The AI did its job; the human did not.
A better prompt or a more artful process would have had a better result.
But is it art?
Once created, art is in the eye or mind of the perceiver. So, should we care who or what creates it?
Here are some other questions worth pondering. Is AI at its best when it's amplifying human intelligence - rather than replacing it? Or ... is the goal simply to amplify intelligence?
The Universe often gives you increasingly painful chances to learn a lesson.
What do you think we're supposed to take from this?
The Most Popular Spotify Artists
Time and technology march forward relentlessly.
It is easy to keep up – until you pause or slow down.
Being an Early Adopter was a big part of my identity. At this point in my life, I am still early with respect to new technologies, but I feel like I'm losing touch with a lot of today's culture.
Perhaps this started over a decade ago? I remember finding my sons' slang and music off-putting.
As an aside, my youngest son, Zach, went through a phase where it felt like he used the verbal tic ... "Dude" in every other sentence. Parenting trick – I broke his habit by screaming "FOOPDEEDOO!!" every time he said it, regardless of when it happened, where we were, or who we were with.
If it's crazy and it works ... it's not crazy. He certainly stopped saying "dude".
OK, back to the point. I realize that the Top 40 is basically a list of 40 songs that I don't know (and feel like I only randomly know some of the artists). Meanwhile, my staff laughingly refer to my favorite stations on SiriusXM radio as old-man music.
To make the point further, my research assistant asked me if I knew about Bad Bunny. To me, it sounded like a Disney cartoon for Halloween. But, apparently, he is a Grammy-winning recording artist who won "Album of the Year" for music that I had never heard.
It didn't take long to get to the list of top Spotify artists. For the record, I do know most of those artists – but admittedly few of their songs.
Here is the list. How did you do?
via StatsPanda
But as I said, listening to the Top 40 is getting harder for me. Where's the rock (or songs with discernable melodies)?!
Meanwhile, I'm about to start a new art exhibit. I call it "Jen Sleeps At Pop Concerts"
So far, we've got Taylor Swift, Coldplay, Beyoncé, Ariana Grande, Bob Seger, the Eagles, and the Rolling Stones. In case you're curious, she did not fall asleep at John Legend, Queen, or Ed Sheeran.
Times are changing ...
Posted at 05:25 PM in Business, Current Affairs, Gadgets, Ideas, Just for Fun, Market Commentary, Movies, Music, Personal Development, Television, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)
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