3 Artists vs AI

What happens when the algorithms come for our art? As AI promises to dominate the world by 2027, we're left wondering what remains uniquely human in our creative landscape. The answer lies not in what we create, but why we create it, and who we become through the process.

This episode dives into three essential sparks of humanity that AI can never truly replicate: kindness, shared culture, and resilience. Through the gentle revolution of Fred Rogers, who changed policy with nothing more than a cardigan and a heartfelt poem; the cultural remix magic of Lin-Manuel Miranda, who retold American history through the voices once left out; and the raw resilience of Frida Kahlo, who transformed her shattered body's pain into visual autobiography – we discover the true power of human creativity.

While technology races forward, promising everything from wealth redistribution to unprecedented productivity, the authentic creative experience remains stubbornly, gloriously human. The transformation that occurs when a person puts brush to canvas or fingers to keyboard isn't just about producing content – it's about becoming. That's something no algorithm, however sophisticated, can experience.

So brew that cuppa, lower your expectations slightly (as we suggest), and join us for a journey through the mildly unhinged world of artistic inspiration. Because at the end of the day, creativity might just be our most powerful tool in maintaining our humanity in an increasingly automated world. Subscribe to hear more conversations with artists, musicians, makers, and the occasional accidental genius as we unpack that most mysterious force: the creative spark.

Thanks for listening.

Episode Transcript

Rita (00:04):
Welcome to Creativity GGG, the podcast that dares to ask
the big questions like what iscreativity and why haven't I
been paid for it?
Yet?
Our host is the somewhatpresent in reality, chris McHale
writer, producer, lifelongfiddler with sound and sense,
here to guide you through themildly unhinged world of

(00:24):
artistic inspiration with justenough sincerity to get away
with it.
Each week, we talk to artists,musicians, makers and the
occasional accidental genius,all in the noble pursuit of
unpacking that most mysteriousforce, the creative spark.
Or, at the very least, we'lldistract you from doom scrolling

(00:45):
for half an hour.
So brew a cuppa, lower yourexpectations slightly and let's
get on with it.

Chris (00:57):
I was reading an article today that AI is going to
dominate the world in 2027.
It's 2025.
What does that mean exactly?
Well, I would hope that itgenerates such great wealth that
nobody has to worry about wherethey live or what they eat or

(01:19):
if they have change in theirpocket again.
Or?
I'm expecting free education,I'm expecting free health care.
That's what I expect, not justshovel tons of wealth into the
pockets of oligarchs, make ElonMusk richer.
That's not what I want.
But I'm an artist and I've spentmy life with creativity, and

(01:49):
creativity isn't just about whatwe make.
It's about why we make it.
And this is where we departfrom AI.
The weapon we're looking for topush back against AI is
creativity.
All right, there's people outthere claiming, like artists are
gonna be replaced because AIcan do it better.

(02:09):
I don't think so.
I really don't think so.
It's just not gonna happen.
All AI can do is reflect whatcreatives have done.
So my suggestion is get to thefront of the line.
Make your creativity the bestit can be.
Creativity isn't just about whatwe make.
It's about why we make it, andsometimes it's about who we

(02:32):
become in the process.
That's so important the process.
What happens to us in theprocess.
That's what's missing from theAI tools, and they're useful.
I use them, but they don'tchange me Like I get changed by

(02:53):
taking some oil paints and andpainting a canvas.
Look.
I wanted to look at threeartists.
These are sort of randomlypicked out of a hat, but I've
been thinking about creativityand the three sparks of human
spirit, the three essentialthings that spark our humanity

(03:21):
and our creativity in thedeepest way.
Those three things in my mindare kindness, shared culture,
resilience.
Are there three artists outthere that reflect those?
And the answer is yes.
I went to look for the artiststhat reflect kindness, shared
culture and resilience, and I'dlike to start with kindness and

(03:46):
to find that I came across thepower, the quiet, cardigan power
, of Fred Rogers.
It wasn't flashy, it wasn'tloud, but Mr Rogers changed the
world, changed the world in waysthat robots are not going to be

(04:07):
able to change the world.
In 1969, public television wasabout to lose its funding.
So Fred Rogers went down to theUS Senate, just a soft-spoken
man wearing his trademarkcarnigan no theatrics, just art.
He'd read a lyric he'd writtenfor kids struggling with anger.
And the senators, who are ahard-nosed bunch of skeptical,

(04:33):
cynical people.
Card-nosed bunch of skeptical,cynical people listened and gave
public television $20 million,which this guy, trump, just took
away.
Why?
Why did he do that?
We're talking about Fred Rogers.
We're talking about kindness.
Fred didn't just make shows, hemade safe spaces.

(04:57):
Kindness in Roger's hand wasn'tpassive, it was a tool.
It was a revolution, arevolution of humanity, and in a
world full of noise itwhispered.

(05:19):
Let's talk about the secondthing Shared culture.
This is so important because inthe world we're shutting the
culture down.
We're shutting it down.
So, looking for that, I wasthinking about Lin-Manuel
Miranda, puerto Rican guy withPuerto Rican roots and Broadway

(05:42):
dreams and a wild idea Tell thestory of Alexander Hamilton
through hip-hop.
And it worked, of course, itworked great.
Hamilton became more than amusical, it became a movement
and it opened us up to eachother.
That's the important thing Inthis world.
We need to open up culturally,not shut down, not build walls,

(06:04):
not send the military down tothe border with guns saying like
back off brown people, no,that's not the way to go, that's
not how we're going to survive.
And a remix of American historywhy not?
Told by the very voices thatonce left out?
Yeah, think about that.
Shared culture that's whatartists can do for us.

(06:28):
Culture Reborn.
Be open to it, remix your mind,all right.
The third thing resilience.
We're looking at three thingsthat artists do, because I

(06:49):
believe artists are our leaders,not these politicians flying
around in borrowed jets.
The artists are our leaders,not these politicians flying
around in borrowed jets.
The artists are our leaders.
So, when you think of thesparks of humanity that I'm
talking about kindness, sharedculture, resilience you can look
to the artists and findexamples of this.
That's what I'm doing here.
Resilience I was looking at aposter for a museum that's

(07:13):
downtown.
They're having an exhibit ofFrida Kahlo.
Is there a better example ofresilience than Frida?
At 18, a bus accident shatteredher spine and her body broke,
but her spirit didn't.
She was confined to a bed andshe found mirrors and brushes

(07:36):
and painted what hurt.
She painted herself to healing.
She painted what couldn't besaid out loud.
She went through it all loss,miscarriage, pain, passion all
of it Coming from this moment asa teenager, and every canvas

(07:58):
was an autobiography that saidlook at the end of the day, we
can endure much more than wethink we can.
Are we going to learn somethinglike that from our AI
intelligence?
No, we're not, because we haveto feel that, at the end of the

(08:22):
day, we can adore much more thanwe think we can.
That's a lesson from an artist.
It's so important and it's soreal and it's so supported by
her art and the life.
So I'm going down to thatexhibit to see Frida's work and
I'm going to keep in mind thatlesson that she taught us Her

(08:45):
lessons of survival, of protest,of identity.
So what is creativity?
Sometimes it's a kind word andsometimes it's a shared rhythm,

(09:06):
and sometimes a cry of painturned into color and light, but
always, always, always, always,it's human.

Rita (09:20):
This has been Creativity GGG, inexplicably still written
and produced by Chris McHale.
Do subscribe to the podcast, ifonly to make it look like we
know what we're doing, andshould you feel an
uncontrollable urge to hear moreor just want to poke around,
visit us at studiogggio.
Go on then, don't be shy.