A Monstrous Matter: The Three Faces of Artificial (Intelligence) Creativity

Journal of Creativity, Volume 34, Issue 1, 2024, 100075, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yjoc.2024.100075.

9 Pages Posted: 10 Feb 2024

See all articles by Robert Edgell

Robert Edgell

SUNY Polytechnic Institute; University of St. Gallen; Columbia University - Columbia Business School

Date Written: January 8, 2024

Abstract

Through a focus on artificial creativity (AC), creativity and innovation researchers, practitioners, and educators are beginning to demystify the phenomenon's liminality by exploring and contesting the potential affordances, constraints, and pitfalls brought about by the deployment of powerful AI models for creative endeavors. For the creativity community, AC as a sociotechnical network has become a deeply consternating and contested monster. Given the recency of AC, there has been little theorizing yet. My critical self-reflection paper seeks to understand the community's concerns and, thereby, to discern theoretical insights that conceptually contribute towards a theory of AC. Drawing on autoethnography, I identified three distinct perceived matters of concern represented by anthropomorphic personalities or faces of AC: Trickster, Surveyor, and Harbinger. The findings reveal that the Trickster is the most monstrous and disconcerting face of AC. It may be prankish or deceptive, but can also be beneficent and supportive. While the Surveyor provides surveillance, measurement, and calculation, the Harbinger announces competing future visions, one of utopian hope and the other of dystopian despair. I conclude by discussing the implications of three underlying theoretical variables: trust, creative value, and creative personal identity.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence; Creativity; Matters of concern; Trust; Creative value; Creative personal identity

Suggested Citation

Edgell, Robert, A Monstrous Matter: The Three Faces of Artificial (Intelligence) Creativity (January 8, 2024). Journal of Creativity, Volume 34, Issue 1, 2024, 100075, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yjoc.2024.100075., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4694115

Robert Edgell (Contact Author)

SUNY Polytechnic Institute ( email )

100 Seymour Road
Utica, NY NY 13502
United States

University of St. Gallen

Varnbuelstr. 14
Saint Gallen, St. Gallen CH-9000
Switzerland

Columbia University - Columbia Business School

3022 Broadway
New York, NY 10027
United States

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
11
Abstract Views
94
PlumX Metrics