20/02/2024
Just in case anyone was hoping for another space themed album after Moon, don’t worry! There’s plenty of that in the works too. Here are a few of the images I’m working on for the big double album which will follow Ocean… conceptually it’s early days with these. The two albums each have their own themes and topics which are distinct but very connected. These images are just potential ideas for one of the two albums. As with the Ocean artwork, these are a combination of ai generated elements, hand-drawn bits (Apple Pencil and iPad Pro are fantastic for this kind of thing!) and lots of editing and comping etc.
Incidentally, one of the tracks from the double album is called ‘Singularity’ and deals with the topic of runaway AI!
On the subject of using AI in the creation of artistic work:
I’ve come to the conclusion that AI is clearly here to stay, whether we like it or not. I don’t think it will replace human creatives although it is going to decimate the business side of things for artists who rely on commissions etc. However, we can either moan and weep about it or embrace it, see it as a new tool and use it openly and be creative with it.
After all, the AI may generate source material and lots of variations on it, but a human can creatively select, edit and manipulate that material to mould it into something unique, personal and meaningful. So I believe in that sense, it can be valid as artwork (what I don’t like is when people use AI to do everything and then claim it as their own work).
In this way, it could be compared to improvising or producing in music. As an example, let’s say I’ve hired a musician to play on a piece of music I’m working on. Sometimes I have a precise melody, and want it to be performed exactly as I’ve written it. But on other occasions I might ask the musician to add their own embellishments or to improvise something entirely. I may record a dozen different improvisations and then spend a lot of time editing pieces from each take together, moving parts around, picking out all the bits which appeal to my aesthetic tastes and suit the needs of the piece etc. What I end up with can often be unrecognisable from the raw unedited performances.
So I can use AI to produce source material in endless variations from which I can edit and manipulate to achieve the desired results. But I would always credit the musicians for their performances - after all, the creative act is a collaborative one. So it seems logical to likewise ‘credit’ the AI in order to be transparent about its usage.
Inevitably, it will be abused of course but it will change the world either way. For better or worse? Very hard to predict at the moment. Humans don’t have a great track record of being sensible with new technology! It could all go terribly wrong, but it could also revolutionise medicine, energy production, space exploration and so much more, potentially solving many of the complex problems we face now as a species.
Time will tell.
Peace, love, music,
Your (mostly) human friend,
Harvey xx
✌️🖖🙏👽🎧🛸
