NAB
The ability to
generate music, images, and even video by algorithm may be ethically or even
aesthetically controversial, but financially speaking there’s no argument.
article here
In a pure business
context, generative AI changes the economic calculus — massively.
That’s according
to venture capital firm a16z, a group of investors who normally place
their bets on emerging Web3 tech like blockchain, DAOs, crypto and NFTs. Now
they report that generative AI is seeing the fastest uptake by developers
they’ve ever seen.
In particular, they
highlight the popularity of AI tool Stable Diffusion, noting the almost daily
launch and funding announcements of start-ups using the technology. Online
social networks are being flooded with content created by generative models.
The argument
couldn’t be clearer for any company working in the creative arts.
“Any custom artwork
or graphic design project will likely take days or weeks, and will cost
hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. Using generative AI is easily four
orders of magnitude cheaper and an order of magnitude faster.”
a16z compares the
use of generative AI for image creation with programming code. While code
generation can benefit from an AI boost, even a very basic functional program
still requires reviewing, editing and testing by humans.
It puts this down
to the fact that programming code requires absolute accuracy — unlike producing
a piece of content where the outcome often depends on serendipity and the
blending of ideas that may not be planned.
Generative AI for
art is not yet perfect. It will require some degree of user supervision. But
the writers say it’s hard to overstate the difference in economics versus
coding that’s created by an image model’s ability to mimic an artist’s output.
“For a basic image,
entering a prompt and picking an image from a dozen suggestions can be done in
under a minute.”
All of which seems
to undo the blood, sweat, tears and years of artwork by Michelangelo on the
Sistine Chapel, or Van Gogh’s incredible final pictures of wheat fields in
Arles.
Their argument is
not that computers are necessarily better than humans but, as with so many
other automated tasks, “they just kill us on scale.”
a16z doubles down,
saying that the impact of generative models on creative work output, such as
image generation, is extreme.
“It has resulted in
many orders of magnitude improvements in efficiency and cost, and it’s hard not
to see it ushering in an industry-wide phase shift.
“The massive
improvement in economics, the flexibility in being able to craft new styles and
concepts, and the ability to generate complete or nearly complete work output
suggests to us that we’re poised to see a marked change across all industries
where creative assets are a major part of the business.”
Examples include
the ability for generative AI to help with level design for video games. In
marketing, “it looks poised to replace stock art, product photography, and
illustration.”
There are already
applications for AI tools in web design, interior design, and landscape design.
When it comes to
Hollywood and the major record labels, a16z makes the point that a large amount
of output is formulaic, taking an idea that sold well and re-spinning it across
franchises. Its argument for the use of AI is only as cynical as the industry
has always been:
“It also may be
the case that combining and recombining all prior art may be sufficient for the
practical range of creative outputs. The music and film industries, for
example, have historically produced countless knock-offs of popular albums and
movies. It’s entirely conceivable that generative models could help automate
those functions over time.”
The VC company goes
further, suggesting that the melting pot of data that an AI is fed on could
come up with something unique and fresh.
“It’s not difficult
to envision an AI model producing genuinely interesting fusions of musical
styles or even ‘writing’ feature-length movies that are intriguing in how they
tie together concepts and styles.”
It ends: “We
believe generative AI is strictly a positive tool for extending the reach of
software — games will be more beautiful, marketing more compelling, written
content more engaging, movies more inspiring.”
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