How to live as an artist in the time of AI

We all know what is coming. At least once a day, someone is screaming on top of their voice that AI is going to take away my job. It is frustrating. Annoying, to be honest. It is not what they are saying; it is the voice - the squeaky masquerading as baritone and attention-grabbing passed off as confidence, while in actuality it is patronising.

For a long time, I have been disgusted with self-help books. Yes, disgusted. Isn’t the nature of some stranger telling you how to live life disgusting? A little harsh? Wait until you hear me talk about journalism books written by, for the lack of a better word, TV anchors. I did not like the idea of someone telling me what to do with my life. My life, as I thought, was a ship that I was supposed to sail. High tides or low tides, how I want to sail is on me. Should I stop on this island? Should I aim for another one? It is all on me. Self-help books are unsolicited advice given by 50-year-olds who have not once taken into account how culture and geography have an effect on people’s psychology.

With AI, we are back at the same place. If I had managed to escape the self-help trend a few years back, now the same people are on my face, screaming every day through Instagram reels about how I should plan my life because AI is coming. And, since I am a part of the larger artist community, the majority of these reels are targeted towards artists. I see many of them getting anxious, unable to comprehend what they should do. Especially when they have spent years honing their craft.

I live in Bengaluru, in my room most of the time, barely conversing with people and definitely not conversing with the tech community. So, I am the last person who can predict what AI will do. Or is it actually “coming?” But what I do know, as somebody who dabbles in art every day, is that we sure need a guide, a rulebook on how to live in the times of AI.

So, if you are an artist or someone who dabbles in creativity, here I am, once disgusted by self-help books, about to give you a guide to live your life in the times of AI.

1 Make Terrible Art

Start making terrible art today. I know most of us deal with imposter syndrome, and we never think that we have made good art. Let’s be honest, we know what terrible art is. And, we know how to make it. Start making that art today.

Why? Because this entire ecosystem of “AI people” who are getting up every day motivated to replace you, most likely, have zero sense of what good art is. They see our previous work, they deduce it to be good, and that is how they are replicating it. But what if we change that? What if they can only see the bad art that we make? Can they tell the difference? Or will they perceive that to be the gold standard of what good art should look like? That is what is going to happen. The entire world will be fed these substandard art pieces sold as what Van Gogh, Shakespeare, Mozart, or Billy Wilder would have done.

2 Make These AI Bros Existential

You know, in ancient times, who drove the conversations? Us, the artists. We, through our work, made people collectively feel a certain way. When did that change? Why are these tech-backed creators making us feel existential? How did we switch places? Time to switch back.

These AI founders are on a high horse, thinking that they are driven by a larger purpose of serving humanity or changing the course of it. They might be right or wrong. We don’t care, right? All we are concerned about is whether what they are building will replace us or not.

Use your skills, create art, drive conversations and make these AI founders existential. Strip them of their purpose. Kill their motivation. Put them on a train of spiralling fear of losing themselves.

3 Keep Making Things In Your Basement

While all this is happening, what we should not forget is making good art for our sake. Create your best pieces in your rooms, basements or bunkers. Create it and keep it to yourself. Because once the new order is destroyed and the old order is brought back, the first thing people would crave for is consuming good art. Because every single artist who hopped onto the AI trend would have lost their ability to create art that moves people, there would be a dearth of art that moves people and unites people. That’s when you start flipping one art piece or the other into the world to fulfil your purpose.

4 Redefine The Narrative

The narrative is that AI is going to take your job. If somebody doesn’t believe it, they are shown a number of people who are actually scared to lose their jobs. Pointing at them, they say - “If they are all scared, it must be true, right?”

So, before you lose your jobs, quit it. Quit your jobs right now. Let your organisation or your patrons feel the void of knowledge through which they were planning to replace you. Change the narrative, remove the fear and transfer it to people - “What if all our artists stop making art today? Who will train our AI models?”

Let them feel it.

Now, you may ask if all of this is logical? Can this be done practically? Can everyone afford this? What about those who are not privileged enough to do all these?

Yes, that’s exactly my point. Now, do you agree that self-help books are disgusting?