AI has no Taste

And Taste is Everything, Really...

As artificial intelligence more aggressively encroaches on the realm of human creativity—generating stories, artwork, and ideas that can often rival those produced by humans—a critical question emerges:?

What is the true nature of human creativity, and can it ever be fully replicated by machines??

The answer lies in the crucial role of taste in the creative process…

Taste is that uniquely human quality that sets our creativity apart from even the most sophisticated AI.

"All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste.

But there is this gap.

For the first couple years you make stuff, it's just not that good.

It's trying to be good, it has potential, but it's not."?

• Ira Glass

This gap between our taste and our skills is what drives us to keep creating, to strive for better, more impactful work that resonates on a deeply human level.?

It is this innate sense of taste—born from our accumulated lived experiences, and sensory, emotional intelligence—that will continue to distinguish and elevate human creativity, even as AI grows increasingly sophisticated.?

The Impressive Yet Formulaic Creativity of AI

AI has skills, for sure.

There is no denying that AI has made remarkable strides in creative domains. Advanced language models (LLMs like Claude 3, Mistral, etc.) can now write coherent stories with recognizable narrative arcs.

Generative art tools—like Dall-E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion—can produce visually striking images based on textual prompts. Now even truly realistic (borderline mind-blowing) video is being generated by AI alone.

By analyzing vast datasets of existing creative works, these AI systems have become adept at identifying patterns, styles, and formulas that underpin successful storytelling and art. As a result, they can generate outputs that score highly on traditional measures of creativity, such as originality, flexibility, and elaboration.

However, while AI-generated creations may be technically proficient and even aesthetically pleasing—skillful representations—they often lack the depth, nuance, and emotional resonance that characterize the best of human-made art and stories.?

They have no taste to discern what is truly great.

As Glass points out,?

"A lot of people never get past that [hard work & iteration] phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn't have this special thing that we want it to have."?

It is this drive to create something that meets our own high standards of quality and resonance—informed by our unique tastes and experiences—that sets human creativity apart.

Human Taste, Truly Irreplaceable Discernment

This is where the unique value of human creativity becomes apparent—in our ability to not just generate ideas, but to discern which ideas are truly worthwhile and meaningful.

Glass emphasized this thusly,?

"It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions."?

When a skilled human creator decides that a particular story or artwork is "good," they are drawing upon a deep well of personal experience and cultural understanding.

They are considering not just whether the work adheres to established formulas or patterns, but whether it resonates on a profoundly human level—whether it moves them, challenges them, or reveals some truth about the world as they have lived it.

This is not to say, however, that AI has no role to play in the creative process.?

On the contrary, AI tools can be immensely valuable in augmenting and enhancing human creativity, provided they are used in a way that leverages our unique strengths.?

By generating a wide range of ideas and options for us to choose from, AI can help us overcome creative blocks and explore new possibilities we might not have considered on our own. They can produce volumes of work with unprecedented efficiency.

But it is ultimately up to us, as human creators, to exercise our taste and judgment in selecting and refining the most promising of these ideas.

The era in which artificial intelligence will play an increasingly central role in creative fields has already arrived.

Moving forward, it is ever more crucial that we recognize and celebrate the enduring importance of human taste.

Discernment, informed judgement, and emotional sensitivity...

Born from the totality of our lived experiences, emotional depth, and cultural understanding, our ability to discern and create truly meaningful works of art and storytelling is something that cannot be reduced to an algorithm or dataset.?

By embracing this unique strength, and learning to harness AI as a tool for enhancing—rather than replacing—our creative capacities, we can ensure that the most resonant and impactful creative works will always bear the irreplaceable mark of human taste, and earned wisdom.?

In the words of Ira Glass,

"You've just gotta fight your way through."

https://youtu.be/91FQKciKfHI?si=Ahn5b6IS7qMHCCwg