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Fascinating intuition or cliche reproduction?
I enjoyed the references to the three in the first one
Do I get to vote as well?
My own interest would be more in the area of artistic critique. Recently @Arthurwg said something about the 'visceral response' (a slight paraphrase on my behalf). This is something AI is inherently incapable of understanding, lacking viscera, although the odds of this human visceral response adhering to some kind of pattern are pretty good.
I count three and I can see how they relate to the image, but I don't experience them as particularly insightful or useful. I also don't think that any of the ChatGPT critiques addresses the main issue of the image, which is its problematic composition (sorry Alan, beautiful colors in that photo, and I honestly appreciate the work you put into making it, but the image doesn't work for me; I find it's a jumble of elements.)both are not far off the mark and are just about as useful as any critique would be, created by a human.
In its present form, AI would have the cognitive profile of an extremely intelligent and person who sits at the very extreme of the autism spectrum: very capable in certain areas, but with extreme deficiencies in several areas. Applying the construct of IQ to it is problematic since it results in misleading conclusions like "AI is smarter than a person" etc. Tools like ChatGPT and the underlying models are evidently already far more capable at solving certain problems than humans. But this mostly re-focuses our attention, possibly even leading to something like a new renaissance, to the question of what it means to be human.If AI doesn't have an IQ of 160 or more as yet, it likely will in the near future.
It's rather speculative to presume that silicon intelligence will develop in a similar direction as the biological kind. It mimics part of the latter very well, but only insofar as we understand it and have modeled that understanding. Ironically, the limits of silicon intelligence are likely a mirror of our own limitations - perhaps that makes AI still some kind of super-human, or extreme-human, IDK. You seem to regard the absence of viscera in silicon intelligence as inconsequential - I don't think it is. The human mind is rooted very deeply in the physical body - not only in the physical sense. Human intelligence is a complex construct that involves learning in an epistemological sense as much as much less linear phenomena like intuition, gut-feeling, broken hearts etc. When it comes to appreciating and critiquing photos, all of these come into play.As for a "visceral response," let's remember that these are early days, and before to long it's likely that AI will master that as well, viscera or no viscera.
And as such, none of these narratives really says anything. They just fill the blank page.
| Feature | Walker Evans | Henri-Cartier-Bresson |
| Documentary impact | ||
| Compositional fluidity | ||
| Emotional tension | ||
| Spatial storytelling |
It’s not cold — but it is deliberately non-expressive.“This is how this place looks. This is how these people occupy it.”
Henri Cartier-Bresson.Which is the stronger photograph as a photograph?
Then Evans would win.Which is the stronger document?
Yeah, I agree. On the other hand, it's convenient to haves some appropriate red flags to alert us of the upcoming b***s**t. Remove them, and things get even more slippy.AI's insistence on qualifying its insights is irritating
That one made me LOL!I asked for a critique. Spoiler: I had no idea I was so confident and restrained. Maybe it's an accidental masterpiece?
I agree. So much of the phrasing in the AI critique is just lift and shift from some pretentious photo art babble that can be heard at any art school.
That's the impression I had of these critiques. They sound much like other critiques of reviewers who try to impress the audience with how smart they are in how they detail stuff about the picture or artwork that isn't apparent to most viewers. Of course, why would we expect anything different from AI? They're sweeping the web for reviews made in the past and trying to apply them to these new pictures. So it all sounds and reads the same. On the other hand, this may mean that these art directors' and art reviewers' jobs are at peril, too.I count three and I can see how they relate to the image, but I don't experience them as particularly insightful or useful. I also don't think that any of the ChatGPT critiques addresses the main issue of the image, which is its problematic composition (sorry Alan, beautiful colors in that photo, and I honestly appreciate the work you put into making it, but the image doesn't work for me; I find it's a jumble of elements.)
In its present form, AI would have the cognitive profile of an extremely intelligent and person who sits at the very extreme of the autism spectrum: very capable in certain areas, but with extreme deficiencies in several areas. Applying the construct of IQ to it is problematic since it results in misleading conclusions like "AI is smarter than a person" etc. Tools like ChatGPT and the underlying models are evidently already far more capable at solving certain problems than humans. But this mostly re-focuses our attention, possibly even leading to something like a new renaissance, to the question of what it means to be human.
It's rather speculative to presume that silicon intelligence will develop in a similar direction as the biological kind. It mimics part of the latter very well, but only insofar as we understand it and have modeled that understanding. Ironically, the limits of silicon intelligence are likely a mirror of our own limitations - perhaps that makes AI still some kind of super-human, or extreme-human, IDK. You seem to regard the absence of viscera in silicon intelligence as inconsequential - I don't think it is. The human mind is rooted very deeply in the physical body - not only in the physical sense. Human intelligence is a complex construct that involves learning in an epistemological sense as much as much less linear phenomena like intuition, gut-feeling, broken hearts etc. When it comes to appreciating and critiquing photos, all of these come into play.
I don't know if words can be put to the sensation of seeing a photograph that does or doesn't work. When a (competent) critic critiques a photo, the challenge they face is to try and reflect on that physical, intuitive, gut-based response and build a narrative on it that remains consistent with that wordless impression the image makes. When a language model (i.e. AI) critiques a photo, it will start with random letters and refine that jumble into a narrative that resembles narratives associated with similar images. The process is fundamentally different. I think that clearly reflects in all three of the AI critiques we see above: they're entirely sensible narratives - but they're somehow not really connected to this particular photograph and the impression it makes on the viewer, for the simple fact that there is no viewer. And as such, none of these narratives really says anything. They just fill the blank page.
I agree. So much of the phrasing in the AI critique is just lift and shift from some pretentious photo art babble that can be heard at any art school.
Using AI to critique one's work is a self-indulgent exercise in futility. AI has no imagination and wouldn't recognize innovation or creative leaps. Somewhat like the Salon rejecting the Impressionists, or the advent of Cubism or Abstract Expressionism. AI is mired in convention and group-think.
I don't think art director's jobs are endangered yet. At least not the truly creative individuals. Most clients and non-visual people have a hard time telling what it is they want, usually, "I'll know it when i see it" kind of response. And those who attempt to describe something they want and have it executed exactly usually end up with disasters. (I truly think that is how the Tesla Cybertruck came about!)That's the impression I had of these critiques. They sound much like other critiques of reviewers who try to impress the audience with how smart they are in how they detail stuff about the picture or artwork that isn't apparent to most viewers. Of course, why would we expect anything different from AI? They're sweeping the web for reviews made in the past and trying to apply them to these new pictures. So it all sounds and reads the same. On the other hand, this may mean that these art directors' and art reviewers' jobs are at peril, too.
That's because AI can only absorb and mimic back to us what others have said in the past. It can't be innovative. It needs humans.
Of course it can. It has tremendous potential in a number of fields. But it also hallucinates and generates a lot of slop. It is pretty useless without human supervision.My friend who used AI to generate a discussion about the combination of his poetry and his photography was impressed by a couple of relationships between the two that the AI noticed and he hadn't.
So don't discount the capabilities of AI just yet - it can be far more thorough and perceptive than you might think.
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