In Defence of Andrew Huang

My friend and fellow YouTuber/Musician Andrew Huang has been facing criticism for the past week over his use of AI generated images for his project The Book of Chances, a card deck designed to prompt creativity and overcome blockages.

Many are upset that Andrew, who has spent so much of his career encouraging the creativity and artistry of others, would resort to using AI generated images for a commercial product, which they consider an existential threat to human-generated work.

AI’s influence is one of the biggest issues of our time, with wide-ranging effects in practically every field. There’s no doubt the next decade will bring seismic advances, and troubling side effects.

It’s a subject that requires a great amount of nuance, compassion and understanding – rather than dashing off an ill-tempered ‘do better’ comment on a social media platform.

If we play our cards right, AI could bring about a world of such bounty that humans can be unshackled from the daily grind of work, and instead free to focus on the creative pursuits of our choosing.

Or that same technology might be our downfall.

I understand the anger about its use, especially by a figure many look up to as a guiding light. Andrew is working on a statement in response to the criticism, and I am looking forward to his thoughts.

Human-created artwork is expensive. The artist spends years mastering their craft, and rightly expects to be compensated for that time, as well as the time creating the work itself.

But we also live in a world where very few people care to pay full price for that same work; where so much is expected to be consumed for free.

In his book The Value of Art, the art dealer Michael Findlay lists ‘provenance, condition, authenticity, exposure, and quality’ as the five attributes of art’s market value.

Authenticity will always have its place.

I used the wonderful Roberta Landreth to create my album and single artwork, and her artistic vision goes far beyond what I could have prompted a machine to create. But I would also not judge those on limited budgets to use AI, and have experimented with AI-generated thumbnails for some of my own videos. It is another tool to be used.

My takeaway is that if you want authentic human work to prevail, you have to be willing to pay for it. I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter. Reply and tell me your opinion.

Mary x

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