It is now possible to generate visual art, music, and writing in seconds that previously took weeks, days, or years, with no skills, training, or knowledge. The creative fields have now become automated in the way mass manufacturing automated skilled artisanship. Is this generated AI slop in any way "quality" stuff? In this talk we will examine together some of the visual, musical, and written content that deep learning and generative AI is producing and examine how those of us who work and teach in these fields are supposed to adapt to the automation of human creativity.
Barry Lam is Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Riverside. He previously taught for sixteen years at Vassar College and was recently Visiting Professor at Princeton, where he taught podcast production and public philosophy. He is the author of numerous articles and book chapters in journals including Philosophy, Cognition, Philosophical Review, and the Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy. His podcast, Hi-Phi Nation, has received critical acclaim from The Guardian, Huffington Post, Indiewire, and others for its integration of journalism, storytelling, and philosophy. He is the Associate Director of the Marc Sanders Foundation, a charity promoting public philosophy. His book Fewer Rules, Better People: The Case for Discretion will be out in 2025.
