Laurie Anderson on the fantastic and catastrophic uses of AI in art
The groundbreaking American artist also shares her advice for the next generation of creators
Laurie Anderson, the prolific avant-garde artist, musician and filmmaker, is no stranger to experimenting with AI.
As the inaugural artist-in-residence at the University of Adelaide's Australian Institute for Machine Learning, Anderson created an AI chatbot of her late husband and collaborator Lou Reed, who died in 2013. While some artists have taken a strong stance against the intersection of AI and art, Anderson's thoughts on the matter are more surprising and sensitive.
"Well, first of all, I think it's really exciting and fantastic," Anderson says in an interview with Q's Tom Power. "However, in terms of people like actors who are having their faces basically replicated and writers who are having their styles taken … this is really going to be quite catastrophic in many ways until people figure that out."
Anderson says she loves AI as a collaborative device, but she thinks the technology has its limits, pointing to one of Apple's recent controversies as an example. Earlier this month, the tech giant faced backlash over an iPad ad showing machines crushing creative objects like musical instruments, typewriters and paint cans, suggesting that the iPad is the only tool you need.
"Of course, it's ridiculous, outrageous, blah, blah, blah," Anderson says about the ad. "But, I mean, my favourite quote on this is from a cryptologist who said, 'If you think technology will solve your problems, you don't understand technology — and you don't understand your problems.' And I think I'm completely on board with that."
What is your intelligence? Who are you and what do you have to say?- Laurie Anderson
As AI continues to develop and becomes more integrated with daily life, Anderson believes we need to ask more questions about ourselves as individuals.
"Ask what intelligence is disturbed," she says. "What is your intelligence? Who are you and what do you have to say? I think it's a creative, wonderful way into self-knowledge.
"How are you different from a machine? You know, you're talking to people and they're just spewing out stuff that they just read or stuff that they just heard. So what are you, just a repeating machine? Is that any different than AI? You're just collecting stuff and regurgitating. So what is it about you that is really you? It's an opportunity to think about that and figure that out — and it's different for everybody."
Advice for the next generation of artists
Earlier this week, Anderson was awarded an honourary degree from NSCAD University in Halifax. While she says she isn't "a legacy person," she does have advice for the next generation of artists.
"I'm going to tell them it's important to be an optimist," she says. "I'm an optimist, but for absolutely no reason. No one can say with any authority, 'Things are getting better.' No one can say with any authority, 'Things are getting worse.' It's not based on that.
"So what is it based on? I'm just basing my optimism on the fact that you have a better life. You have more fun as an optimist. You're not tearing your hair out. So I highly recommend that."
The full interview with Laurie Anderson is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Interview with Laurie Anderson produced by Lise Hosein.
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