I don't think there is a way to quantify the degree to which different combinations of consumed media, culture, personal experience and whim go into the creative process for any given person at any given moment of creation. It's insurmountably complex, I think. I mean, if you wrote a silly little limerick right now or tomorrow, would it end up being the same limerick? Very likely not (although, even with that, we can't actually know). This sort of machine learning can only emulate creativity insofar as examining what the output creativity looks like and trying to reproduce it. Maybe it will get good enough to serve lowest common denominator, highly derivative and formulaic media in a coherent way, but I am skeptical of even that.
D&D General Can ChatGPT create a Campaign setting?
Grendel_Khan
Hero
We aren’t going to settle this question here, especially if we aren’t all speaking a common technical language about what LLMs can and can’t do. But a central question is whether creativity can be quantified, to the extent that you can measure success or failure, both key requirements in a machine learning model.
There are AI/ML devs and researchers who think that yes, you absolutely can quantify and solve for what we’d consider human creativity. But what that’s meant in practice has been solving for some kind of “novelty.” The result is basically random nonsense—art that’s expressionistic in style but that isn’t meant to invoke any particular emotions or thoughts, and garments that basically look like vomit.
One persistent issue within the larger field is whether AI engineers could benefit from a greater education in the humanities, soft sciences, etc. That sort of thing might prevent the sort of blunders that lead to ethical violations in models, but also the possible hubris of thinking that everything the human mind can do can be boiled down into inputs and features and math.
So it all gets very existential right away, but here’s how I see it: We still don’t really know how the brain works, so we can’t possibly recreate its most complex capabilities and responses. Until we can (and it might never happen—it could be as insurmountable as FTL) the real question is, do you think there’s some unique value in art, writing, or any other creative pursuit that can evoke emotions?
If no, then why isn’t everyone able to write or paint or create in evocative ways with enough training? Because of it was that quantifiable and reproducible, we would have already quantified and reproduced it at industrial scales.
Burt Baccara
Explorer
Such as? Can you give some examples?
Clint_L
Hero
Pick an animated film from the last 10 years. Pick a CGI heavy film. Luke Skywalker showing up on The Mandalorian? Thank (or curse) an AI.
I just saw an article that said the Young Indy scenes from the new (upcoming) film were done with AI. I presume these were more focused and limited neural networks? I mean, specifically trained on young Harrison Ford and Raiders of the Lost Ark footage?
Clint_L
Hero
I also think folks are really overetimating the quality of most human-produced writing. 99.9% of it is meant to be functional. I hate to say it, but nobody buys a Campaign Setting for the writing. Because the writing is mostly repetitive and banal. Even in the good ones. We're not talking Joyce, here. You buy a campaign setting for the ideas. ChatGPT can help creators focus on the ideas rather than the drudgery of producing their mostly competent writing.
This is also not an all or nothing situation. When a creator has something brilliant to write, they will write it. But when it is just the pot boiler stuff, the stuff that often gets handed off to an assistant anyway? Eh.
Edit: whenever a new communications technology comes along, people tend to freak out. You know what Socrates hated? Writing! He thought it would wreak havoc on the ability of young Athenians to think for themselves and keep long texts in their minds. He was right, about the last part anyway! And maybe about the first, as writing made it much easier for brains to get all infected with ideas from other people. But I think most of us would now agree that literacy was a net gain for humanity. I'm a positive thinker. I think AI will unleash even more of our potential.
Or, you know, I'll have a lot of egg on my face when our robot overlords take over next week.
This is also not an all or nothing situation. When a creator has something brilliant to write, they will write it. But when it is just the pot boiler stuff, the stuff that often gets handed off to an assistant anyway? Eh.
Edit: whenever a new communications technology comes along, people tend to freak out. You know what Socrates hated? Writing! He thought it would wreak havoc on the ability of young Athenians to think for themselves and keep long texts in their minds. He was right, about the last part anyway! And maybe about the first, as writing made it much easier for brains to get all infected with ideas from other people. But I think most of us would now agree that literacy was a net gain for humanity. I'm a positive thinker. I think AI will unleash even more of our potential.
Or, you know, I'll have a lot of egg on my face when our robot overlords take over next week.
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Rabbitbait
Adventurer
I'm just finding it a fun toy that can help quickly with generic ideas when I don't have time to come up with them myself. It certainly has helped me get over the horror of a blank page.
Or I can amuse myself by writing stupid prompts:
Or I can amuse myself by writing stupid prompts:
To be fair, it can write some pretty good back of the box text:
Write an introduction to a roleplaying game about special forces fighting against an alien invasion.
Welcome to the world of "Special Forces vs. Aliens", a thrilling roleplaying game where you take on the role of a member of an elite military unit tasked with defending humanity against an extraterrestrial invasion.
In this game, you will lead a team of highly skilled soldiers, each with their own unique set of abilities and weapons, on missions to battle the invading aliens and uncover the truth behind their attack on Earth. From the jungles of South America to the deserts of the Middle East, you will face intense combat, solve challenging puzzles, and make difficult decisions as you fight to save humanity from total annihilation.
Whether you prefer to play as a stealthy sniper, a demolition expert, or a charismatic leader, the choice is yours. With a flexible character creation system, you can customize your soldier to fit your preferred playstyle and form a team that complements your strengths.
So gear up, soldier, and get ready to take on the aliens in this exciting and immersive roleplaying game. The fate of humanity is in your hands!
Write an introduction to a roleplaying game about special forces fighting against an alien invasion.
Welcome to the world of "Special Forces vs. Aliens", a thrilling roleplaying game where you take on the role of a member of an elite military unit tasked with defending humanity against an extraterrestrial invasion.
In this game, you will lead a team of highly skilled soldiers, each with their own unique set of abilities and weapons, on missions to battle the invading aliens and uncover the truth behind their attack on Earth. From the jungles of South America to the deserts of the Middle East, you will face intense combat, solve challenging puzzles, and make difficult decisions as you fight to save humanity from total annihilation.
Whether you prefer to play as a stealthy sniper, a demolition expert, or a charismatic leader, the choice is yours. With a flexible character creation system, you can customize your soldier to fit your preferred playstyle and form a team that complements your strengths.
So gear up, soldier, and get ready to take on the aliens in this exciting and immersive roleplaying game. The fate of humanity is in your hands!
Burt Baccara
Explorer
CGI and AI are not the same, this is apples to oranges. Even an AI-powered retouching brush used on a photo is not the same as generative AI.
Clint_L
Hero
Why not?
It seems to me the question is not whether AI is used, but how much and in what capacity. And these are very pertinent questions that are being heavily litigated.
For example, let's say I mostly write a campaign guide, but use AI to fill in some of the basic, repetitive stuff. Can I copyright that? Okay, what if I write a campaign guide, and I write quite a bit of it, but for the gazetteer section I just create the place names and a few details (e.g. Stankwater, a small swamp village with an alligator problem) and get the AI to fill in the details. Can I copyright that?
With other AI assisted art, the AI is basically doing what I described above - the artists are making the key decisions, but much of what you actually see on screen is being filled in by AI.
It seems to me that the question over AI and copyright, in writing or any other art form, is likely to come down to what degree of unique creative expression is required for an artist to claim work as their own. The question won't be about whether the use of AI automatically excludes a written work from copyright, it'll be where the line should be drawn.
I suspect much relevant litigation will come from the music industry, where many court cases have explored questions of originality and ownership (e.g. sampling cases).
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