Human Connection

Maya dreamed of becoming the next Ellen Lupton or Paula Scher, but she was only in her first year of a two-year communication design program. She had a lot to learn and took each project very seriously. She wanted to start learning how AI tools could play a part in her projects, so Maya focused on this for her final project. Her goal was to create an emotionally rich portrayal of her family with the help of several AI tools she and her classmates were experimenting with.

Maya was charged with pushing the boundaries of creativity by using these tools, and her journey began. I researched how personal challenges helped artists create more meaningful work. She reflected on the notion that genuine emotional depth in art stems from the vulnerabilities and experiences of that artist. She wondered how an AI tool, which didn't have any personal experiences to draw from, could come close to achieving something like this.

To get started, Maya attended webinars featuring speakers from different design studios, creative labs, and academic institutions. All of them discussed advancements in AI and created imagery that could replicate the kind of human emotions that appear transformative in art and design. She was even more inspired and so continued experimenting furiously with these tools. Her graphic narratives began taking shape, and she sought ways to evoke feelings like nostalgia, joy, and sadness to mimic human emotions.

Maya was excited about what she was producing and eager to show her classmates some of the progress she had made. However, they immediately commented that her work lacked " soul." She wondered if it was impossible not to have her touch as part of each step of the creative process. Is that what it would take for the piece to have soul?

As Maya considered these questions, she met a couple of artists at a gallery who challenged her perspective. They said that so-called emotional depth in a painting or musical score doesn’t solely rely on the artist's personal experiences but also on how the viewers interpret it and the emotional connection they build with it. These artists use AI to generate illustrations that deliberately lack context and allow viewers to, as they put it,  “project their own emotions and experiences onto the pieces.” They said this approach might create deeper emotional connections since each viewer's experience with their work would become unique and personal.

This new perspective forced Maya to reconsider her point of view. She wondered if AI could be used as more than just a tool for replication but also as a way to create more open-ended emotional experiences. Still, she couldn't shake her belief in the value of an artist's personal touch. Maya realized that this debate was far from over.

She started to think that AI could mimic only certain parts of emotional depth. It couldn't produce the feeling of imperfect human touch, and it can't have the unique perspective that human-created art and design have and that people genuinely resonate with. AI renderings just don't have that sense of human imperfection.

In her final presentation, she shared these aspects of her journey, which showcased not just the pieces she had created but also the AI works that she wrestled with. She was quick to point out the differences between the two versions and argued that AI can be very useful in the creative process but that details like authenticity and human resonance are, at this point, impossible to reproduce.

What do you think?