The first time I’d ever heard of the term “Artificial Intelligence” was back in 2001 when I was growing up and crushing hard on kid star Haley Joel Osment in the Steven Spielberg film A.I. Artificial Intelligence.
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Remember that movie? It was set in a dystopian world, post-climate change, and it was centered around a humanoid robot named David who is specifically programmed with the ability to learn, adapt and even love. Things started out OK for David but then it got, well, complicated.
Robots and AI have dominated our imaginations for years but, now, nearly 70 years after modern research into it began, it seems like machine learning is developing quicker than the speed of light. There’s AI boyfriends, AI-generated songs and AI-written college term papers.
Right now, TV and film writers are on the picket line outside of major studios demanding, among other things, that AI not be used to “write or rewrite literary material." It’s been a major point in negotiations. But can machines actually replace human ingenuity? Creativity? Humor? What is A.I.’s true capabilities?
In the latest How To LA podcast episode, Brian De Los Santos explored these questions with a couple of experts in the field: data journalist Meredith Broussard, an associate professor for the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University, and Mike Ananny, an associate professor of communication and journalism at USC.
The bottom line: Aaron Sorkin shouldn’t be too worried about being replaced by robots…at least not yet.
“AI is math,” said Broussard. “All of this text that has been scraped from the internet… They feed it all into the computer and say ‘computer, make a model’. The model generates text that's similar to what's been seen before."
It can, for example, spit out a script that's derivative of a sitcom that's already been used as a model many times before.
Broussard added: "It's cool that it works, but it's just not that interesting.”
Nor, added Ananny, is it really that smart.
“Honestly, I'm not worried that generative AI is going to replace writers. I think that sort of disrespects who writers are and what writers can do,” he said. “What I would worry about though is that if the business side of cultural production decides that, eh, this script is “good enough”... that's where I think there's a real danger… of having a simpler, more boring, you know, less developed culture.”
That’s just a snippet of Brian’s conversations. For more insight into how AI works and how it can – and cannot – affect our creative work, listen to the How to LA episode here.
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For today’s trip back through Los Angeles history, we’re going to a place and time that many of you might actually remember: the 1980s and 90s hip hop scene.
LAist’s James Chow wrote about the L.A.- based breakdancing team Air Force Crew and how it helped launch Korea's B-Boy scene.
Because of their unique head spinning power moves, Air Force Crew grew in popularity internationally. One day, Korean American producer Jae Chong saw the group dancing in the late 90s in Echo Park. He invited them to perform at his R&B group’s show in Korea. After performing overseas, the rest was history for the hip hop breakdancing world. Chong said this about that show performance:
“So we actually displayed the first b-boy show in Korea in full effect … Koreans saw for the first time ever somebody doing infinite headspins,” Chong said. “I spoke with a prominent b-boy crew in Korea, and the leader said he started breakdancing because he saw them at the concert.”
Read more about this piece of hip hop history in Chow’s article here.
Dig Deeper: Listen to podcast episode 5 of K-Pop Dreaming to learn more about Chong’s R&B group and how they became an influential band in the Korean music industry.
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