The use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) has sparked significant debates about its impact on the future of our society, and in the case of art and music, on creativity and intellectual property. AI has been steadily transforming various industries, and the field of creative arts is no exception. 

For the sake of brevity of this blog post, I will focus solely on the use of AI in creative arts, and not engage in the conversation about the societal concerns and myths connected with the AGI (Artificial General Intelligence). If you'd like to participate in a more philosophical conversation with Drs. Avram and Jensen, there is a Courageous Conversations about AI and Religion coming up on Sunday, May 7 at 11:30 am at Pinnacle. 

Let me present some general public cons about AI-generated art first, followed by my personal responses: 

1. Loss of human touch: Some argue that AI-generated art lacks the soul and emotion that comes from human-made creations. They express that AI may dilute the unique qualities that make art a deeply human experience. 
Take a note of the AI-generated cover photo for this blog. This is not a photograph of a real person. It has been synthesized from millions of real photos, and it was generated by an engaged process of creative and descriptive text prompts from its author. It is our personal decision how to classify and consume this type of art.  

2. Intellectual property concerns: The use of AI in creative art raises questions about who owns the final product and whether the AI-generated work is truly original or simply a derivative of existing creations.
To my knowledge, there are no processes in place to credit copyrighted works which are used as a basis for the AI-generated output at this point. However, as with all new technology, it is a question of time for this to happen, and it will require a thorough and engaged process. 

3. Ethical considerations: AI-generated content can sometimes inadvertently perpetuate biases present in the training data. This raises concerns about the potential for AI to reinforce existing stereotypes and inequalities in creative fields.
ChatGPT has been recently addressing these issues, and I don't foresee this to be an easy process. AI can be only as free of bias as all humanity is at this point. It reflects us, and we are far from perfect.

4. Job displacement: The rise of AI in creative fields can potentially lead to job losses for artists and musicians as AI technologies become more advanced and capable of producing high-quality work. 
In my opinion, the use of AI in creative arts is inevitable. In the near future the artists and musicians will divide into those who embrace AI, use it as a quality tool to enhance their work, and into those who don't. 

Personally, I am very intrigued about using AI in the field of choral and instrumental church music. The reason for it is an actual need which comes from my daily work and experience. It is an involved and time consuming process to find, create, adjust, arrange, or edit music selections in order to deliver worship music which: fits the scripture, responds to the mood of the day, current events, is of high quality, has the appropriate lyrics, is written for the ensemble I have on hand, etc etc etc. Worship music, with its many facets and a need to reflect the current coexisting variety and diversity of styles, requires a medium which will keep up with the societal and cultural changes. 

I would open-mindedly engage with a version of AI software which could become a tool to deliver high quality music selections for worship. For example, imagine that I feed a music composing AI software the following text prompts:

"Write a 4 minute composition for an SATB Adult choir, intermediate level, accompanied by an organ, cello, oboe, and harp, with a soprano solo part, in a mixed style of J.S. Bach and John Williams, which would have words in English based on Maundy Thursday scripture from John 13:1-17, 31b-35 "  
or 
"Write a 5-minute piece in a mix of Gospel and Caribbean styles for a tenor soloist, unison Children Choir of 30, with SATB supporting Adult choir, intermediate level, accompanied by piano, electric bass, tenor saxophone and drum kit, which would use the words in English based on Pentecostal reading from John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15"

Imagine that the (not-existing-yet) software delivers a few compositions I can choose from and tweak them to my liking and needs. It would save me a lot of time, deliver exactly what I need, and enhance our worshippers' experiences. I don't believe this software would eliminate the need for church music composers, rather it would restructure their work. In fact, many composers could use it as a tool to speed up their composition process, to better connect with their audience and understand churches’ needs, and, if embraced, could potentially lead to fresh and fascinating outcomes. 

The only two issues remain: do we have fair processes for these types of changes in creative arts, and are we ready for them? 

* This blog has been written as a creative collaboration between the author and ChatGPT.