3 Artists vs AI

What happens when the algorithms come for our art? As AI promises to dominate the world by 2027, we're left wondering what remains uniquely human in our creative landscape. The answer lies not in what we create, but why we create it, and who we become through the process.

This episode dives into three essential sparks of humanity that AI can never truly replicate: kindness, shared culture, and resilience. Through the gentle revolution of Fred Rogers, who changed policy with nothing more than a cardigan and a heartfelt poem; the cultural remix magic of Lin-Manuel Miranda, who retold American history through the voices once left out; and the raw resilience of Frida Kahlo, who transformed her shattered body's pain into visual autobiography – we discover the true power of human creativity.

While technology races forward, promising everything from wealth redistribution to unprecedented productivity, the authentic creative experience remains stubbornly, gloriously human. The transformation that occurs when a person puts brush to canvas or fingers to keyboard isn't just about producing content – it's about becoming. That's something no algorithm, however sophisticated, can experience.

So brew that cuppa, lower your expectations slightly (as we suggest), and join us for a journey through the mildly unhinged world of artistic inspiration. Because at the end of the day, creativity might just be our most powerful tool in maintaining our humanity in an increasingly automated world. Subscribe to hear more conversations with artists, musicians, makers, and the occasional accidental genius as we unpack that most mysterious force: the creative spark.

Thanks for listening.

Chapters

• 0:04 Welcome to Creativity GGG
• 0:57 AI Domination and Human Creativity
• 3:00 Fred Rogers: The Power of Kindness
• 5:22 Lin-Manuel Miranda: Shared Cultural Remix
• 6:42 Frida Kahlo: Art Through Pain
• 9:20 Creativity's Human Essence

Transcript

Rita: 0:04

Welcome to Creativity GGG, the podcast that dares to ask the big questions like what is creativity and why haven't I been paid for it? Yet? Our host is the somewhat present in reality, chris McHale writer, producer, lifelong fiddler with sound and sense, here to guide you through the mildly unhinged world of artistic inspiration with just enough sincerity to get away with it. Each week, we talk to artists, musicians, makers and the occasional accidental genius, all in the noble pursuit of unpacking that most mysterious force, the creative spark. Or, at the very least, we'll distract you from doom scrolling for half an hour. So brew a cuppa, lower your expectations slightly and let's get on with it.

Chris: 0:57

I was reading an article today that AI is going to dominate the world in 2027. It's 2025. What does that mean exactly? Well, I would hope that it generates such great wealth that nobody has to worry about where they live or what they eat or if they have change in their pocket again. Or? I'm expecting free education, I'm expecting free health care. That's what I expect, not just shovel tons of wealth into the pockets of oligarchs, make Elon Musk richer. That's not what I want.

Chris: 1:39

But I'm an artist and I've spent my life with creativity, and creativity isn't just about what we make. It's about why we make it. And this is where we depart from AI. The weapon we're looking for to push back against AI is creativity. All right, there's people out there claiming, like artists are gonna be replaced because AI can do it better. I don't think so. I really don't think so. It's just not gonna happen. All AI can do is reflect what creatives have done. So my suggestion is get to the front of the line. Make your creativity the best it can be.

Chris: 2:25

Creativity isn't just about what we make. It's about why we make it, and sometimes it's about who we become in the process. That's so important the process. What happens to us in the process. That's what's missing from the AI tools, and they're useful. I use them, but they don't change me Like I get changed by taking some oil paints and and painting a canvas. Look.

Chris: 2:58

I wanted to look at three artists. These are sort of randomly picked out of a hat, but I've been thinking about creativity and the three sparks of human spirit, the three essential things that spark our humanity and our creativity in the deepest way. Those three things in my mind are kindness, shared culture, resilience. Are there three artists out there that reflect those? And the answer is yes. I went to look for the artists that reflect kindness, shared culture and resilience, and I'd like to start with kindness and to find that I came across the power, the quiet, cardigan power, of Fred Rogers. It wasn't flashy, it wasn't loud, but Mr Rogers changed the world, changed the world in ways that robots are not going to be able to change the world.

Chris: 4:09

In 1969, public television was about to lose its funding. So Fred Rogers went down to the US Senate, just a soft-spoken man wearing his trademark carnigan no theatrics, just art. He'd read a lyric he'd written for kids struggling with anger. And the senators, who are a hard-nosed bunch of skeptical, cynical people. Card-nosed bunch of skeptical, cynical people listened and gave public television $20 million, which this guy, trump, just took away. Why? Why did he do that? We're talking about Fred Rogers. We're talking about kindness. Fred didn't just make shows, he made safe spaces. Kindness in Roger's hand wasn't passive, it was a tool. It was a revolution, a revolution of humanity, and in a world full of noise it whispered.

Chris: 5:19

Let's talk about the second thing Shared culture. This is so important because in the world we're shutting the culture down. We're shutting it down. So, looking for that, I was thinking about Lin-Manuel Miranda, puerto Rican guy with Puerto Rican roots and Broadway dreams and a wild idea Tell the story of Alexander Hamilton through hip-hop. And it worked, of course, it worked great. Hamilton became more than a musical, it became a movement and it opened us up to each other. That's the important thing In this world. We need to open up culturally, not shut down, not build walls, not send the military down to the border with guns saying like back off brown people, no, that's not the way to go, that's not how we're going to survive. And a remix of American history why not? Told by the very voices that once left out? Yeah, think about that. Shared culture that's what artists can do for us. Culture Reborn. Be open to it, remix your mind, all right.

Chris: 6:42

The third thing resilience. We're looking at three things that artists do, because I believe artists are our leaders, not these politicians flying around in borrowed jets. The artists are our leaders, not these politicians flying around in borrowed jets. The artists are our leaders. So, when you think of the sparks of humanity that I'm talking about kindness, shared culture, resilience you can look to the artists and find examples of this. That's what I'm doing here. Resilience I was looking at a poster for a museum that's downtown.

Chris: 7:14

They're having an exhibit of Frida Kahlo. Is there a better example of resilience than Frida? At 18, a bus accident shattered her spine and her body broke, but her spirit didn't. She was confined to a bed and she found mirrors and brushes and painted what hurt. She painted herself to healing. She painted what couldn't be said out loud. She went through it all loss, miscarriage, pain, passion all of it Coming from this moment as a teenager, and every canvas was an autobiography that said look at the end of the day, we can endure much more than we think we can.

Chris: 8:09

Are we going to learn something like that from our AI intelligence? No, we're not, because we have to feel that, at the end of the day, we can adore much more than we think we can. That's a lesson from an artist. It's so important and it's so real and it's so supported by her art and the life. So I'm going down to that exhibit to see Frida's work and I'm going to keep in mind that lesson that she taught us Her lessons of survival, of protest, of identity. So what is creativity? Sometimes it's a kind word and sometimes it's a shared rhythm, and sometimes a cry of pain turned into color and light, but always, always, always, always, it's human.

Rita: 9:20

This has been Creativity GGG, inexplicably still written and produced by Chris McHale. Do subscribe to the podcast, if only to make it look like we know what we're doing, and should you feel an uncontrollable urge to hear more or just want to poke around, visit us at studiogggio. Go on then, don't be shy.