Claire Anscomb (De Montfort University): 'An Imaginative Aid? Creating Images with Generative AI'
Increasingly, both the public and professional creators are being assisted by generative AI systems in the production of images. Concerns have been expressed about the potential for these technologies to decrease creative agency or aesthetic diversity. In this talk, I examine whether these concerns are warranted. In doing so, I look to the psychological and philosophical literature on imagination and creativity. Drawing on this, I distinguish between two senses in which generative AI systems can be used as imaginative aids: (i) to aid a user in visualising an idea; and (ii) to aid a user in cognitive play. The latter, unlike the former, is central to creativity and it is also rarer in the use of these systems. I make the case that to facilitate this kind of use more widely, and ameliorate the aforementioned worries, the development of these systems ought not only to focus on technical improvements, but attitudinal changes.
Aesthetics Seminar Convenors: Catharine Abell and David Collins
