Automating Creativity? Questioning AI’s Impact on the Arts

Dr. Tanner Mirrlees’s keynote for Hot Docs Teachers’ Conference on the topic of generative AI and automation in the creative industries and higher education. The keynote focuses on the disruption of the history of human-centered artistic and creative production by generative AI (e.g., ChatGPT and DALL-E) and ethical, philosophical, social and labour questions for teachers and learners. Delivered to an audience of 600 teachers at Ted Rogers Hot Doc Cinema, February 16, 2024.

“The automation of creativity refers to the use of technology to emulate and potentially replace the value of human-centered-labour – the source of all creative knowledge and skill. Generative AI programs now have the capability to produce what is socially recognized as ‘creative’ work – such as stories, poems, images, songs, and videos – with the aid of textual prompts, and to augment the spectrum of creative practices once believed to be exclusively human.”