This Fairy Tale Trope Will Beat A.I.
The older I get, the truer this gets.
In addition to being a hypnotherapist, I’ve been a screenwriter practically my whole life.
Right now, the medium that’s turned into my big love is animation because instead of waiting for a giant studio executive or cast & crew or equity, if you have the skills and tech you can practically make the film yourself!
Then I found a lot of add-ons and plug-ins that help you catch up on some skills that you could spend years mastering.
Things like:
- Cascadeur
- Blender AR Kit
- Countless Procedural Generators
These can practically turn you into a one-man studio!
There’s just one little problem:
A lot of these add-ons and plug-ins use some kind of artificial intelligence.
Something that any kind of animator recognizes as a threat to not just their livelihoods but the industry itself.
So what are we to do?
It’s both surprising and not surprising all at the same time that we are so quick to panic at the idea that there’s something that can not only do our jobs but potentially do them better.
Firstly, we’ve been conditioned as societies to antagonize A.I. through stories and philosophies (Ray Bradbury’s entire portfolio is the first to come to mind).
And secondly, it seems this is just a historical trend that whenever there’s a new technology leading the strongest economic current, we are unsure of what this will look like and feel threatened that it could upend that industry as we know it.
Not to say there’s no good reason for that to happen. There are countless industries that have gone under because of this. I leave it at “countless” because I’m sure we will never know how many industries have truly gone extinct because of new technology.
But while I do agree that the regulation of artificial intelligence is soooo important (if you want an Exhibit A, OnlyFans account owners are collecting FAT paychecks because of fake models that have been virtually made with photo-generating AI), I don’t believe that we should EXILE an entirely new tool.
Whether we like it or not, it exists now. We’re not going to eradicate it like we have the digital equivalent an asteroid for the dinosaurs.
We need to see AI as a tool, not a replacement.
Going back to my animation hobby, I made a rule of what I am willing and NOT willing to use it for.
For example:
WHAT I’M WILLING TO USE IT FOR:
- Concept Art that’s not the final art
- “In-Between” Animation Frames
- Retopology (This makes everything in the scene easier to process so your computer doesn’t get overworked and crash)
WHAT I’M NOT WILLING TO USE IT FOR:
- Writing the Story
- Sculpting the concept art into 3D models
- Painting Textures
- Lighting
- Scene Composition
Moral of this story is: Use AI to fast-track the specific things that don’t take away from your personal touch and things you actually LIKE to do.
I don’t have to write screenplays now. But man, do I love narrative theory and telling stories that move people so much that I’m willing to make my own job opportunities.
Which leads me to the second part.
In the words of the late-but-great musical god Chris Cornell:
And to be yourself,
Is all that you can do
Not to sound like a cheesy life coach who’s about to sell you essential oils, but no amount of AI can take away who you are.
Because we are all so much more than the trade that pays our bills.
The AI is just a carbon copy that gets oooh’s and ahhhh’s.
Plus, I believe that the stronger AI gets, the more powerful humanity becomes because it makes our individual uniqueness and taste so much more valuable and rare.
I completely understand the fear of artificial intelligence replacing us.
I remember when I asked ChatGPT’s thoughts on free will and even though I got just a Bachelor’s in the subject, I panicked when I realized that ChatGPT’s answer was philosophically correct.
But if you tell it, for example, you want it to make a Hayao Miyazaki-style film, Hayao Miyazaki must exist first.
Think about that.
I’ll leave this with you and a video from Gary Vaynerchuk that has the same message, just in a more hustle-culture context (ignore that part).
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