AI, Artists, and the Future of Creative Work

Generative AI is able to conjure new images, stories, and songs at lightning speed. So what does this mean for humans artists, storytellers, and musicians? In this special Labor Day episode, we speak with economists Ben Jones (kellogg.northwestern.edu/academics-research/fa…) and Sam Goldberg (gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/faculty/samu…), as well as artist Yevgenia Nayberg (nayberg.org), to find out what happens when AI enters creative markets. We learn that, at least today, key bottlenecks prevent AI from replicating some aspects of creativity. But there’s no guarantee those bottlenecks will exist tomorrow, raising vital questions about what we value in human labor.

Life, Automated is a production of the Ryan Institute on Complexity, at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. The host is Jess Love, senior director. Distributed by KQED (kqed.org/podcasts/lifeautomated).

Producer: Steven Jackson (stevenbjackson.com)Senior Producer: Jesse Dukes (jessedukes.com)

Music: Steven Jackson (stevenbjackson.com)

Associate Producer: Stacia Sliger

Recording: George Christensen, Will Feeney

Promotional help from Ananya Mallapragada and Charlotte Simmons.