#51: AI-Generated Content and the Future of Creativity

Join Ian and Michael as they delve into the controversy surrounding a children’s book that was entirely AI-generated. Moreover, the duo discusses the concerning trend of AI companies using artists’ and authors’ work as training data without permission, credit, or compensation. Discover the impact it has on the audience and the future of creativity. From animation to British sitcoms to replacing the annoying overflow of (human-generated) reboots and sequels with truly original content, there’s no telling what intriguing insights will be unveiled in this must-listen episode! (This text was generated with ChatGPT)

Ian Bowie
Hello and welcome to AI Unfiltered with me, Ian Bowie, and our resident expert, Michael Stormbom, where we will be talking about everything to do with AI in our modern digital society and what the future holds for all of us.

Ian Bowie
There’s the book.

Michael Stormbom
The AI generated children’s book. Yeah, interesting. Yeah. Caused a bit of a hubbub.

Ian Bowie
It certainly caused a reaction from the artistic world and yeah, I don’t think the guy quite expected that when he when he sort of announced it.

Michael Stormbom
No, very sort of innocuous he just wanted to create a book for was it for his child, or…

Ian Bowie
For his own child, I think and maybe for a friend Yeah. So he was

Michael Stormbom
He used MidJourney to generate arch and then was a ChatGPT for generating the story.

Ian Bowie
The story. And actually, the really interesting thing there for me was he initially originally intended it for his own daughter, I think it was, and her friend. And then when he put out that text on Twitter.

Michael Stormbom
Yeah, but then thing is that he put it out on Amazon Kindle.

Ian Bowie
Yeah. And, then he went and sold hundreds of them, because suddenly, all the negative reactions coming from artists generated huge amounts of interest. So of course, people wanted to know more, and they went and bought the book.

Michael Stormbom
Yeah, that’s the Barbra Streisand effect. Yeah, yeah.

Ian Bowie
So this is what you need to do, isn’t it? You need to put something out…

Michael Stormbom
Which should generate controversy.

Ian Bowie
Really piss people off, and then sell a shitload of stuff.

Michael Stormbom
Let’s get to work on the AI Unfiltered book, and then…

Ian Bowie
That’s right. Yeah. Yeah. But I think I think because I think he actually said in the article that he then engaged with the less vitriolic commenters, yeah, to find out you know, what their beef really was. And there was one valid point actually that some of them made, which was the fact that the AI algorithm had actually been trained with their art without their permission.

Michael Stormbom
Yes, I mean, and that’s what we discussed before the AI veganism concept. Yeah, that is if you’re an AI vegan, and then it’s only been trained with material, which are allowed to train it with, this is not the case for all these large models that we’ve been playing around with it. Scraping what they can find on the internet. Allegedly, I should say.

Ian Bowie
Yeah, but still, so I mean, that is I think the problem isn’t it.

Michael Stormbom
And the artists are not getting compensated for it.

Ian Bowie
Well, no, of course not. Yeah. What do you think will happen first, the artists will have an opportunity to take these companies to court and sue them, or government will enact new legislation to make what the AI companies do legal.

Michael Stormbom
Interesting question.

Ian Bowie
Yeah.

Michael Stormbom
I mean, I mean, it’s…

Ian Bowie
For the greater good of mankind people.

Michael Stormbom
So I mean, definitely the legislation is lagging behind, I think there needs some clarification in terms of what can be used as training data.

Ian Bowie
Of course, I mean, I suppose the argument could be that if you don’t want it using without your permission, don’t digitalize it don’t stick it on the internet. Yeah, but

Michael Stormbom
That’s not quite true, is it. So I mean, for example, if DC Comics publisher certain amount of artwork of a Batman. And and then you use it so that it’s been published publicly, and then you make your own Batman, and then you get to sued up the wazoo.

Ian Bowie
Yeah, absolutely.

Michael Stormbom
Yeah. So then it becomes abut who has the best lawyers.

Ian Bowie
Mind you, I don’t know,I still think that stuff that’s in digital format, to me, still doesn’t have the same value as something that’s real and tangible. Sorry to say, but…

Michael Stormbom
How about audio recordings? It’s a trap. It’s a trap.

Ian Bowie
Yeah, no, I was sort of thinking more longer literary lines and also pictures and things like that.

Michael Stormbom
To me, so it doesn’t matter how it’s been created. I mean, it’s…

Ian Bowie
The fact that it’s been created.

Ian Bowie
What about an AI created Simpsons episode? That can be fun, couldn’t it?

Michael Stormbom
Yeah, feed in the screenplay and then it animates it and yeah, all that stuff.

Ian Bowie
Yeah. Can you tell the difference?

Michael Stormbom
They should totally do that. Then we can see.

Ian Bowie
Yeah, wouldn’t that actually you could do that with a lot of things. You could do that with South Park. Yeah, the same thing. Anything. Family Guy. Scooby Doo.

Michael Stormbom
Scooby Doo, especially, that’s so formulaic that you don’t even need state of the art AI.

Ian Bowie
Scooby Doo? Yeah. Yeah. It’s fun, though.

Michael Stormbom
It’s always the janitor, if it wasn’t for you meddling kids…

Ian Bowie
That’s one of my favorite children’s television programs at one time.

Michael Stormbom
Yeah, sure.

Ian Bowie
Yeah. But you could couldn’t you. It’d be a lot of fun actually, to go back and sort of take all of those old traditional cartoons and turn them into AI generated programs. I think it would be a lot of fun.

Michael Stormbom
That would be quite interesting.

Ian Bowie
What else could you do? You could do top cat seven if you’ve got top cat in Finland. Do you ever get that?

Michael Stormbom
Sure. I remember seeing that on TV.

Ian Bowie
Top Cat. Hong Kong phooey. In Chai private. I am on a roll. Now. Deputy dog.

Michael Stormbom
Now we’re just listing Hanna-Barbera cartoons.

Ian Bowie
Yeah. Probably quite an easy one, wouldn’t it that’d be an easy one for AI to do these simple sort of cartoons from your childhood.

Michael Stormbom
I think it should be possible. I mean, if you take the make a video setup on and, just feeding all the animations there. Why not?

Ian Bowie
You have to be quite careful though. We’re talking about children here saying that you have to check the text.

Michael Stormbom
Also the people who own the trademark might have some thoughts.

Ian Bowie
Well, they might like it because they might realize well, hey, hang on a minute.

Michael Stormbom
They’re probably doing it already.

Ian Bowie
We don’t have to pay all those script writers and animators, and cartoonists. Save a fortune.

Michael Stormbom
I think it’s the way it’s gonna go. It gets so automated. Yeah, why not?

Ian Bowie
Yeah, it could be.

Michael Stormbom
I mean, all those animations, they are no longer hand-drawn, it’s all computers these days.

Ian Bowie
Oh, yeah, of course. But it’s still a human being who’s controlling the computer?

Michael Stormbom
Well, yes. Yeah. And doing the drawing. Albeit on a computer. The next step is just rigging it up so it responds to… it writes the script and then it animates.

Ian Bowie
Yeah, it just brought me back to the whole idea again of, of AI and creativity. And wouldn’t it be pretty amazing if you could just have AI churning out hit after hit after hit?

Michael Stormbom
I think that is going to be the future, an algorithm just you’re just getting all of the hit songs and then it susses out what is the secret sauce that makes these songs hit and then it just keep on churning them out.

Ian Bowie
Yeah. But who’s it churning out for? Surely you’ve still got to have a human fronting the AI band, so to speak.

Michael Stormbom
Not necessarily, I don’t know if we are at the point yet where you can generate singing voices necessarily, but surely someone is working on that or looking into it, I’m sure.

Ian Bowie
Isn’t it also part of you know, you know, these boy and girl bands that they used to create, I don’t know if they do it anymore. But it wasn’t all about oh, you know, all those pretty girls or those pretty boys?

Michael Stormbom
Yeah, it’s not so much about the musical ability…

Ian Bowie
No no, their music was rubbish wasn’t it, you know, mentioning no names. But I mean, of course there’s avatars as well, aren’t there, I mean, I suppose.

Michael Stormbom
Yeah. I mean, we have spoken about virtual bands before.

Ian Bowie
We have Yeah, that’s right. Yeah, yeah.

Michael Stormbom
Yeah, I think the next step is just completely just everything.

Ian Bowie
Artificial everything. Would you like some artificial sauce with your pizza? Yeah, yes. Artificial kebab roll.

Michael Stormbom
Virtual kebab, yes.

Ian Bowie
There’s a danger there isn’t that you know that if everything goes virtual, there are some people in society who are so dumb, that probably starve to death, because they think they’re eating when they’re getting a virtual meal. But it’s the power of suggestion. I was just watching a program about magic the other day and of course, magic is very much about the power of suggestion.

Michael Stormbom
Just wanting to believe and…

Ian Bowie
That’s right. Yeah, absolutely. You know, so I’m sure that there are people out there because there are people who, as we know from from Star Wars, and the Jedi and their mind tricks, and the weaker minded people of course, a very easy to manipulate and quite easy to get. I’m sure of it. Certain types of people to believe that they’ve just had a hamburger because they saw it in the metaverse and their avatar ate it.

Michael Stormbom
But that brings me to Nick Cave, oddly enough.

Ian Bowie
Nick Cave? p

Michael Stormbom
Yes, because someone had asked to ChatGPT to generate song in the style of Nick Cave, and he was unhappy about the results.

Ian Bowie
Nick Cave wasn’t happy about it.

Michael Stormbom
They were bad, or I’m paraphrasing, but.

Ian Bowie
So what did he do about it?

Michael Stormbom
I think other than commenting in media, I don’t think he did anything about it.

Ian Bowie
Could he do anything about it?

Michael Stormbom
No, I think other than lamenting the fact that it wasn’t human created.

Ian Bowie
Tough.

Michael Stormbom
No, but I mean, at the end of the day, does it matter if it was created by a human being or not? I think that’s an interesting… does it make a song. more meaningful if it was a human being who wrote the lyrics.

Ian Bowie
I suppose. If you’re a professional songwriter, you’d argue, but…

Michael Stormbom
If you’re a listener.

Ian Bowie
A listener is a different matter, isn’t it? Yeah.

Michael Stormbom
I guess it’s up to you what you put importance on, but.

Ian Bowie
I don’t think listeners really care.

Michael Stormbom
No, I mean, half of the songs are probably AI generated already.

Ian Bowie
No, I don’t think listeners really care. Yeah. Couldn’t give two figs. But the artists care because of course it’s their livelihood.

Michael Stormbom
They get replaced. Yes.

Ian Bowie
Yeah. Absolutely. Replaced by a machine. Yeah, but that’s coming anyway.

Michael Stormbom
It is.

Ian Bowie
Isn’t it the South Koreans that have a lot of sort of avatar style bands.

Michael Stormbom
Thee are plenty of those virtual bands.

Ian Bowie
Yes. Yeah. So I thought Yeah, but now you’ve got Abba, of course.

Michael Stormbom
The Abba-tars. Yes.

Ian Bowie
Right. The Abba-tars? Yeah. So why not?

Michael Stormbom
Yeah, why not virtually generated or AI-generated.

Ian Bowie
Yeah, music and also the pop stars?

Michael Stormbom
Yeah. No, but I mean, you could see it the other way is to have the same thing as with writing that you have the AI generator, initial version for you. And then you can work with that one.

Ian Bowie
Yeah. Oh, you AI to to a stage where it can just do and you get the polished finished version. Now. Even better.

Michael Stormbom
And you don’t have to pay the musicians anything.

Ian Bowie
That’s right. You can take it all for yourself.

Michael Stormbom
Yeah. We are giving the record labels ideas here, but…

Ian Bowie
I’m sure they’ve already had these ideas before. Oh, yes, absolutely. How do we make more with less?

Michael Stormbom
Yes, indeed. Yeah.

Ian Bowie
That’s the nature of the world, isn’t it? Or the way of the world.

Michael Stormbom
In the metaverse you could have concerts by your favorite bands.

Ian Bowie
Yeah but why not create new bands?

Michael Stormbom
Or new bands for that matter.

Ian Bowie
Actually, this is kind of like how many uses can you find for AI that would take away everybody’s livelihood.

Michael Stormbom
That’s what we’re trying to do here, get rid of all the jobs.

Ian Bowie
Yeah. All the creators. So any creative out there, we’re coming for you.

Michael Stormbom
Yeah, and then all we’re gonna be left with are reboots and sequels.

Ian Bowie
Yeah. Oh, talking about sequels and reboots. Do you remember a series called Fawlty Towers?

Michael Stormbom
I do. Is there gonna be a reboot?

Michael Stormbom
There is indeed. Yeah, apparently. John Cleese is now writing a modernized version of Fawlty Towers.

Michael Stormbom
Okay, well at least it’s still John Cleese.

Michael Stormbom
Which he will star in with his daughter. Because the original series was written by Cleese and Connie Booth, his then-wife. Yes. Yeah, well, now he’s he’s writing a new series. And he’s going to star in it with his daughter. I think it’s another case of well known successful daddy giving less known and successful child a hand up.

Michael Stormbom
Yes, apparently the expression for those are nepo babies.

Ian Bowie
Yeah, yeah. So anyway, but yeah, apparently, it’s going to be some kind of boutique style hotel and, Fawlty Towers for the modern age basically, is coming soon.

Michael Stormbom
Interesting.

Ian Bowie
Sad, I would say, actually, yeah.

Michael Stormbom
I mean, yeah, part of Fawlty Towers’ longevity is, I mean, it ended up to 14 episodes.

Ian Bowie
Well, it was of its time, I think as well. And to try and sort of recreate the same thing for the modern era and come up with something original. Yeah, and not only that, but you know…

Michael Stormbom
Fawlty Air BnB.

Ian Bowie
But also give new writers a chance. I mean, God, he’s 83 years old. You know, he’s done his thing. He’s made his money.

Michael Stormbom
Yeah, there might be space for others..

Ian Bowie
New talents and fresh meat. Mind you having said that, I mean, if you look at an awful lot of the comedy series that have come out of the UK, in the last sort of 10.15 years, I mean, well, my personal opinion is that 80% of them is complete crap. There’s not real good sort of classic stuff, at least not that I found. I mean, there might be there somewhere about No, most of it’s pretty dreadful. Really. There’s another possible use for AI. Write a decent comedy.

Michael Stormbom
That’s actually funny. Yes.

Ian Bowie
Yeah. Really? Yeah.

Michael Stormbom
No, but speaking of reboots, I mean, they did one of Yes, Prime Minister as well.

Ian Bowie
All right, I missed that.

Michael Stormbom
Wasn’t it in the 2000s I don’t think it went anywhere. Completely, like, different actors, but the same characters.

Ian Bowie
Well, they just did one of All Creatures Great and Small, right. I mean, it was nice. It was nice. It was actually very well done. I’m not complaining about it at all. But my only comment is this has been done before. And all you’re actually doing is copying it. Actually. It’s the same series. The same characters, different actors. Why, you know, find some original stuff. Actually, they do dramas better than they do comedies nowadays in the UK. You know, they’ve put..

Michael Stormbom
It’s because the situation there is so dire that it’s just…

Ian Bowie
It’s possible. Yeah, but they do really good dramas. But they just don’t seem to have cracked the comedy recently. Yeah. So maybe they do need a bit of help from AI.

Michael Stormbom
AI can hopefully generate…

Ian Bowie
Possibly, yes. But comedy seems to be a problem for Britain at the moment. Yeah. But like you say it’s because it’s also dire.

Michael Stormbom
Or is it because all the comedians are in in Parliament?

Ian Bowie
Maybe tastes slightly change. I mean, yeah, I must admit, I tried to watch Fawlty Towers about two or three months ago and it didn’t really resonate anymore. No, no, I mean, yeah. When I was when I was younger, yeah, it was funny. But now it just looks ridiculous. It was of its time. It hasn’t traveled well. Only Fools and Horses. That’s pretty timeless, I think. That was an absolute classic series. I don’t think that ever came to Finland.

Michael Stormbom
No, I’m not sure. Yeah. There are definitely both Fools and Horses around.

Ian Bowie
But, only Fools and Horses. Absolutely brilliant comedy.

Michael Stormbom
I haven’t seen that one.

Ian Bowie
You haven’t seen, yeah, I have to try and dig one out for you. Very, very good.

Michael Stormbom
Yeah. Is it available on BritBox?

Ian Bowie
No, for some reason. I don’t know why, but no, it’s not. Right. And I don’t know why.Maybe it was too good. Too good for BritBox, I think…

Michael Stormbom
They can’t afford it. Yeah.

Ian Bowie
Well, no, I think BritBox seems to put up. I mean, there’s some good stuff on BritBox but there’s also an awful lot of crap. I’m sorry to say but there is yeah, you know, stuff that you’d never want to watch.

Michael Stormbom
Well, it’s the streaming problem there, there are the gems and the good stuff and then there’s crap that comes along with the purchase.

Ian Bowie
Maybe Fools and Horses is too old. I mean, you know, a lot of the stuff they’ve got on BritBox is a bit newer than that.

Michael Stormbom
Alright. How this relates to ChatGPT. I’m not sure. But anyway.

Ian Bowie
Well, no, because I think you could actually input or feed all this stuff into the algorithm and then get it to come up with something new and original. Yeah, based on those kinds of…

Michael Stormbom
Possibly.

Ian Bowie
Yeah. Why not?

Michael Stormbom
Yeah, we should give it a go.

Ian Bowie
It’d be funny.

Michael Stormbom
Or maybe we won’t be so funny.

Ian Bowie
Are ee living the dystopian future already?

Michael Stormbom
The future is now. No, but, well, I guess the question is, is the writing on the wall. I guess that’s the question. We’re kind of leaning towards that it is

Ian Bowie
Yeah, I think it is. Yeah. I just think….

Michael Stormbom
We have to make a separate episode about the AI utopia where we…

Ian Bowie
Well, that’s the dome. Yeah. Yeah. You have to create this dome. And then we all live in it. The chosen few only.

Michael Stormbom
Aah, the chosen few, yes. The 144,000 of us that are selected. Yes.

Ian Bowie
What about inventing an AI religion?

Michael Stormbom
We should do it.

Ian Bowie
An artificially intelligent religion.

Michael Stormbom
Let’s ask ChatGPT to create a religion for us.

Ian Bowie
Absolutely, write us a Bible. Yeah. Our very own.

Michael Stormbom
Write our new Digital Bible. Yeah.

Ian Bowie
Of course, it’s good way to make a lot of money, innit.

Michael Stormbom
Yeah. Yeah. Except we need to do that before this episode airs. So we so we get there first.

Ian Bowie
You well, this is true, somebody else…. oh, good idea. They’re probably doing it right now. Yeah.

Michael Stormbom
That’s the job of the future. TV evangelist.

Ian Bowie
Yeah, I actually I yeah, I actually think that that is one area. giving people hope, has always been a really good career move. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. That is definitely a way to make a good living. Giving other people hope.

Michael Stormbom
Yeah, not televangelism. But there was that YouTube series. I think it was called Good News. It was during Corona. So just some actor sitting and sitting at home just reading up good news, right. And then it was commissioned into TV series and then people got pissed because he sold out. Right? Yeah, no, but it was a big hit during Corona. Because people wanted good news.

Ian Bowie
Absolutely. Well, I think people want good news anyway, but…

Ian Bowie
You’ve been listening to me Ian Bowie and my colleague Michael Stormbom, on AI Unfiltered and for more episodes, please go to aiunfiltered.com. Thank you.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai