From the fire of Prometheus to the renegade neural network of The Terminator (1984), technology anxiety spans the history of human civilisation. But only recently has the notion that we could soon be usurped by our machines as artists and storytellers started to take hold. By now, you almost certainly know the broad strokes – first AIs started beating us at our most sophisticated board games, and now, from illustration to writing, every creative endeavour seems to be primed for the computer-generated picking.
In the latest and final instalment of the influential Everything Is a Remix series, in which the US video essayist Kirby Ferguson analyses how all creativity is built from borrowing, Ferguson tackles the history, ethics and unknowable future of artificial intelligence. In particular, he focuses on what the AI revolution means for the future of storytelling. Putting today’s AI panics around creative work, artists’ rights and even the future of the human species into perspective, Ferguson argues that, while the continued evolution of AI is inevitable, the history and future of creativity inevitably, inescapably, belongs to us.
Director: Kirby Ferguson
Producer: Nora Ryan
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Architecture
West Africa was once an architectural laboratory. Is it time for a revival?
12 minutes
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Work
A Swedish expat in the Philippines wonders: what’s up with people sleeping at work?
14 minutes
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Biography and memoir
The unique life philosophy of Abdi, born in Somalia, living in the Netherlands
29 minutes
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Art
‘If you’re creative, why can’t you create a solution?’ One artist’s imaginative activism
17 minutes
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The ancient world
An ancient Roman’s hilarious (and perhaps relatable) response to a social snub
2 minutes
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Ethics
For Iris Murdoch, selfishness is a fault that can be solved by reframing the world
6 minutes
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Death
A hunter’s lyrical reflection on the humbling business of being mortal
6 minutes
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Love and friendship
After his son’s terrorist attack, Azdyne seeks healing – and his granddaughter
25 minutes
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Art
More than breathtaking, ‘The Birth of Venus’ signalled an aesthetic revolution
19 minutes