Of human fallibility: A.I. technology represents neither perfection nor potential, merely a collective information blender
By Charlotte B. Cerminaro
web posted October 14, 2024
During a segment of Justine Bateman's interview on the topic of generative A.I., she described how ambiguity has allowed the problem to encroach on the entire arts and entertainment industry. The largest copyright violations and intellectual property theft in known history is happening now via generative A.I. and related computerized effects. The CTO of Open AI stated that, "It's all publicly available." But 'publicly available' is clearly not the same as "public domain". Over 100 years of film, music and television, in addition to writers' novels, essays, speeches, even doctors' reports – anything that can be fed into a database, randomly generated and accessed – is used by anyone for any purpose, without permission, credit or compensation. The arts and entertainment industry is a pipeline of work, a series of jobs from conception to release. Take out a couple of steps in the manufacturing process and the industry collapses.
Using an apt metaphor to illustrate the point: Is an unlocked car parked on the street considered to be "publicly available"? Better yet, if someone has already broken the car window, and another person finds the keys - the fact that this person can now easily drive away in said car, does that make it "publicly available"? The obvious answer, of course it's not! It's theft, it's someone else's property, hard work and money, nothing less.
Taking another person's work - whether it's their writing, acting, music, or any copyrighted material without permission, credit or compensation, is theft. Attempting to disguise the material by gathering and mixing the creative work and ideas of hundreds of different people, randomly generating a strange conglomerate of information, a chimera, is no less a crime, and yet that is exactly what generative AI is doing. It has been happening for years, only growing increasingly skilled at disguising the theft. Worse still, people who use generative A.I. have no idea who wrote the words, who invented the idea, and are clueless as to the hard work - blood, sweat, tears, years of innumerable trials and mistakes, ultimately getting no credit or payment for their sacrifice.
In the music industry, synthesizers have been used for decades. Becoming more sophisticated, their programmed database contains the computerized sound of each and every orchestral instrument. A technician combines them all into a blend that, despite our technological advancements, can only approximate a living, breathing orchestra - that uniquely coveted sound of ninety individuals linked in artistic precision. Synthesized versions of performances bear an eerie resemblance to a non-living entity, something akin to Frankenstein's monster - the pieces, sewn together artificially, get up off the table and walk on their own.
A terrible charade, yet this is now considered to be one of the "cheaper" alternatives for some producers wanting even greater profit margins at the box office. Occasionally they can get away with it - by putting on a reasonably good light-show, sending the audience into sensory overload so they don't immediately notice the second-rate acting, third-rate script and a synthesized counterfeit music score. And unlike their living counterparts, synthesizers don't have to be paid those pesky royalties.
Now A.I. is reaching across the boundaries into other fields, including healthcare, where issues of personal privacy, individuality and confidentiality are considered to be sacrosanct. It lacks the intuition and humanity of a living practitioner, and never takes any risks, calculated or not. By these strict standards, it doesn't make mistakes but it will never innovate, invent or solve anything that doesn't already exist within its programmed database.
The performing arts came into existence because individuals and audiences ultimately prefer live, authentic, spontaneous work. An exquisite blend of creativity, individuality and imperfection are some of the many qualities encompassed within the human spirit and represent unknown, boundless possibilities. We seek those life-giving performances that are imperfect, as the very same traits of risk-taking allow for inspiration and transcendence, something that is much greater than the sum of any parts or programming. 
Charlotte B. Cerminaro is a Juilliard-trained classical musician and recording artist. In her free time she enjoys writing and regularly contributes to Enter Stage Right and she attained a Bachelor's Degree in Molecular Biology.
