Kurt Vonnegut, AI, and Creativity
A novel from 1963 has valuable insights about ChatGPT, Jasper, and Lex
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The internet is chock full of opinions and evaluations of the newly launched AI chat/writing application, ChatGPT, from OpenAI. Let’s start with full disclosure: unlike many of the articles I’ve read in the last week, NOTHING in this edition has actually been written by ChatGPT. Please enjoy the following 100% human-generated newsletter…
Instead of testing or exploring the implications of algorithmic creativity, I thought it might be interesting to take a bigger zoom out into why humans write, why replicating creativity isn’t the same as actual creativity, and how a novel from 1963 has some prescient warnings for all of us about tools like ChatGPT, DALL-E 2, and the rest of the apps that have arrived as the apparent horsemen of the creative apocalypse.
Cat’s Cradle on Science, Technology, and Religion
Let’s start with the book from 1963. Kurt Vonnegut is my favorite author and Cat’s Cradle is probably my favorite of his books. (Not to mention that my son is currently doing a book project at school on Cat’s Cradle, so it’s top of mind). Cat’s Cradle is a dark, very funny, and brilliant satire of science, technology and religion. A scientist named Felix Hoenikker, who helped invent the atomic bomb, also invented a substance called Ice-Nine. If anything containing water touches Ice-Nine, it immediately freezes solid - this has end-times implications. It is not an accident that one man has brought two separate doomsday devices into existence - Hoenikker is only interested in solving the puzzles of science and technology and has no desire to understand the consequences of his creations, nor their impacts on humanity. The novel paints humans as creatures who brilliantly, blindly and repeatedly create the tools of their own destruction.
On the flip side of technology, there is Bokononism, a fake religion created by a fake prophet (Bokonon). He freely admits that everything about Bokononism is a lie, but it still attracts a wide and devout following. Why? Bokononism may be a pack of foma (the Bokononist term for lies), but it also speaks the truth. It provides insights into life. It provides hope. It provides empathy.
And in a beautiful self-reflexive and post-modernist way, the novel itself is a pack of foma (fiction) doing exactly the same thing as Bokononism - it reveals truthful insights about humanity and the nature of life through creativity and fictional storytelling.
So what does Cat’s Cradle have to do with ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is a very impressive tool. So is DALL-E 2. So is Lex. So is Jasper. There is no questioning the surreal power of AI to analyze millions of pieces of data to learn and algorithmically create essays, chats, blog posts, cartoons, paintings, and so much more. And yes, it is VERY hard, if not impossible, to distinguish between AI and human creations in many contexts. However…
Here are a few questions to consider: Much like Felix Hoenikker in Cat’s Cradle, have we created technology that does something miraculous simply because we can? Why do we want AI to write and paint instead of creating it ourselves? Have we thought enough about what the potential implications of these inventions are for all of us humans?
Here are some more questions: Why do humans write? Why do we paint? Why do we sing? Why do we make movies and podcasts?
Value for the Audience
The magic of creativity is not solely the final product. The reason the content was created in the first place is a vital and intrinsic part of the value - there is always a purpose and intention at the heart of creation. There is a WHY. Algorithms are not creating articles or essays or paintings with an intended audience or desired change in mind. They are following incredibly complex recipe instructions from an infinitely large cookbook.
And as I wrote in a previous edition, creativity is meaningful because of the actual creation process. When you hire an algorithm to create instead of doing it yourself, you are robbing yourself and your audience of the entire value of creativity - the process you must go through to get to the finished product. ChatGPT is not thinking about your audience empathetically, considering your values, or differentiating this creative solution from others with a solution that can only come from YOU. ChatGPT is not designing a unique gift from you for a unique set of recipients. That’s the process of creativity, and it is (currently!) only achievable by humans.
Value for the Creator
For a human, writing is a way to organize your thoughts. The act of writing captures thinking, clarifies thinking, and enhances thinking. When writing is shared and made public, that thinking changes the reader. The ideas and thinking are transmitted from the creator to the reader through writing and reading.
So, what's the point of even going to school if you use AI to write your high school essay? You’re not learning to think, convey information, or see the world critically. You’re not learning how to solve problems.
If you use AI to write journalism or opinion pieces, there is obviously no thinking involved other than determining the prompt for the AI. I want the actual opinions and reporting of smart, experienced people who do real thinking and analysis through their writing. I don’t want an algorithm’s opinion piece that doesn’t come from someone’s unique and thoughtful point of view. An algorithm can’t have an actual opinion - it has rules for how to generate opinionated positions based on past data. So it might be able to fool a lot of people… but philosophically, what’s the point? (Apart from the very obvious and real concerns about generating propaganda to manipulate people as effectively as possible)
If you’re using AI to write marketing content, again… what’s the point? You’re not putting in the thinking. You’re not finding deep empathy with your intended audience. You’re not differentiating yourself with thoughtful creativity. And you’re not trying to create value and solve problems for your intended customer.
If an algorithm writes your marketing, I don’t want to be your customer. If an algorithm writes your marketing, it feels like a giant robotic manipulation machine that will A/B test at scale and optimize anything to make me click, buy, or subscribe… but that will never actually truly think about my needs.
Through a pessimistic lens, tools like ChatGPT or Jasper applied to marketing have the potential to be the next iteration of algorithms that manipulate us without our permission or awareness. Optimized manipulation is not creativity in any shape or form.
Value for ChatGPT
The best value proposition I have seen for ChatGPT is a more effective version of a search engine. AI can search through enormous amounts of research and information and provide it quickly and succinctly (without search results littered with sponsored ads and SEO-optimized links with mediocre content). Research is different than replacing creativity, though. AI research is heavy lifting at scale.
Creativity is communication with the sincere desire to change and impact others.
In the end, isn't Cat’s Cradle the best example of why we need human authors, human creativity, and human genius? Vonnegut had SOMETHING TO SAY. And he found a perfect way to say it - by making up a crazy, funny story that could have come from no one else. And I am writing about it 60 years later because it’s STILL relevant. (Maybe it’s even MORE relevant today than back in 1963).
Creativity is not a product to be churned out on an assembly line. It’s a means of expression. It’s a means of sharing ideas in ways that have an outsized impact. It’s a means of creating change. When others engage with our stories, messages, and creativity, we create true and meaningful connections.
Ultimately, creativity connects human beings with each other. Beware of the consequences of hiring algorithms to do the work of connecting with other humans. Your competition (human creators) will out-connect AI every time.
P.S. If you’re a brand needing human help with content strategy, or a creative services company needing human help with your business, please check out the new Creativity Business website.