TDS Desk:

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be caged within the regurgitation of thoughts and expressions of our previous generations?

It is scary to think about it but unknowingly our actions are dictating towards a grim future where it is already setting in motion if we continue to misuse AI.

Art and culture have always been divine to the artists. It is essentially what they live and die for, and there is beauty in that, as it is incredibly humane. This form of expression provides humans with the utmost freedom that they need to be true to themselves and share their experience and thoughts with others.

And historically, artistic expressions have been one of the key features of every civilization that has been passed down across generations. But if art and culture are a representation of a unique identity of every community, what will happen if its history is completely rewritten by AI?

We go on social media these days looking to take a break from our daily struggles. But how many of us pick up a book to read, pick up a musical instrument to play, sketch or write for ourselves? That is an important question we should ask ourselves.

Social media responds to algorithmic engagement and recently, many of these trends have been increasingly set in motion with the usage of AI. Just take the rising trend of the ‘80s look transition’ for example.

Many of us are using AI to create an avatar of us to see what we might have looked like if we had lived in the 1980s. Now, most people engaging in this trend are people who were born after the 80s era, as they have never seen the 80s for themselves, only heard stories and seen pictures of that time.

Now, one may ask, what is the problem with engaging with this trend and why are some people calling these AI generated pictures to be “AI slop”? Well, an artificial nostalgia has taken over us to “recreate” experiences and expressions of our parents’ generations, and the depictions, in most cases, are either of poor quality, inaccurate or both.

Adapting to a lifestyle and hiding behind the pretension of it is a distinction that we are missing here.

Most people tagging along with this trend are creating a shallow personification of 80s identity, because people didn’t have AI back then in the first place. They lived that lifestyle, but most people are not even adapting to it, they are just curating an image according to AI’s taste and interpretation.

So, what we are creating is incredibly ‘artificial’ to them, no matter how ‘real’ it may seem to us. And that is the problem. If a culture from a certain time period becomes plagiarized by misinterpretation of AI, what is the guarantee that 30 years from now, the result won’t be the same?

But recreating the 80s trend is not inherently a bad thing. You want to see what you would have looked like back in the 80s? Pick up a book, learn to play an instrument, and appreciate art. And if you want to create any form of art, do it yourself, not by using AI.

Creative practices are supposed to be humane, not artificial. We as a generation have to learn to live life instead of just imagining it.

And to do that, we must get out of our devices and interact with people in person, rather than allowing AI to mediate every experience for us. If you can experience life outside of “AI slops,” 80s fashion will eventually come to you naturally.

We have to understand that AI is a tool to be used by us and by doing so, we dictate which identity it may take to serve our purpose. If we use it to create art, it won’t become an artist, it will only end up as a jester.

So, appreciate actual art and artists, greet and reward them while they are still alive. Don’t just give them flowers on their gravestones, hand it to them while they are still alive.