Courtesy: Ben House
Behold! I present to you ART created by a PERSON!
I hope this new banner greets your weary A.I.-strained eyes. I’m sure you’re as tired of the over-glossed, under-polished images that generate A.I. cranks out.
The change is my line in the sand as we face an onslaught of machines who seek to replace human creation by replicating human creativity.
That’s why I pledge not to use A.I. — EXCEPT for proofreading, locating a specific word I’m trying to say that I cannot find in Word Hippo, and making pictures that annoy everyone in my fantasy football text thread when I should be writing.
I made the old banner, with the annoyed dad on the couch and the explosion of Tatooine blue milk, using ChatGPT. It served as a placeholder while I awaited my new banner, skillfully handcrafted by brilliant and talented Portland artist Ben House.
Ben is an illustrator. He draws, erases, draws, erases, crumples up paper, draws, erases, crumples, and draws until he gets the image he wants. I’m a writer. There’s much less paper crumbling, but I erase and rewrite until I get the words I want. We refine. We craft.
My process of curating words, refining sentences, and injecting mediocre jokes into each section imbues my newsletter with heart and soul. Sure, I could aggregate new streaming content from a Netflix news release, embed video news clips from Entertainment Tonight, and have A.I. fill in the blanks — but damn, that’s boring. For you and me.
As humans, Ben and I have limitations. That’s what makes what we do cool. We refined our skills through hard work, trial and error, persistence, and inspiration. Our inspiration comes from other people who push themselves to be incredible.
In Portland in 2021, I watched Damian Lillard single-handedly push a playoff game into double overtime, reigning threes from all over the court. Along with more than a hundred of my best friends (complete strangers), we hoisted our mugs, cheering at each stat-defying three. Dame inspires because he’s our height. He, like most of us, is no high-flier. But he’s tenacious and worked hard to become elite.
Imagine me and more than a hundred friends (complete strangers) arm-in-arm cheering on a robot making those shots. Sure, it’s mildly neat that scientists spent a year programming a robot to hit threes from NBA range. But when the ball goes in, does it matter? No.
You know what matters?
* John Lennon shredding his vocal cords to record Twist & Shout.
* Simone Biles landing the first-ever triple-double.
* Shirley Jackson crafting the first paragraph in her book The Haunting of Hill House.
* Gustav Klimt defying personal tragedy to celebrate love with The Kiss.
* Dame going God Mode.
These people are incredible because we dreamed of doing what they did while singing karaoke, hopping a fence, taking a screenwriting class, doodling in class, and shooting jumpers in the driveway. We are in awe of their achievements, given their limitations as human beings.
A.I. is a funhouse mirror reflection of humankind. It can create something sorta neat or funny. But it’s only a reflection of our exterior, never of what’s inside. Our human hearts, our human imaginations, our human inspirations, our human limitations are what make our human performances amazing on any level — from a Nerf hoop to lunchtime pickup ball to the NBA playoffs.
Twice a month, I tap into my limited human brain to handcraft lists of new movies, reviews, news, recommendations, and drinks. I will not utilize A.I. for any creative function except to watch my back and make sure I don’t accidentally type How to Bang Your Dragon.
I do not hate A.I. It can be used for the good of humankind by accelerating medical research, mitigating climate change, and speaking the binary programming language of moisture vaporators.
Thank you, Ben, for pushing your human limitations to make something uniquely you.
Brendan
