Tyler Cowen writes that originality will become increasingly important as generative AI improves:
ChatGPT excels at producing ordinary, bureaucratic prose, written in an acceptable but non-descript style… rewards and status will go down for those who produce such writing today, and the rewards for exceptional originality are likely to rise. What exactly can you do to stand out from the froth of the chat bots?
There are two big axis of originality that you can optimize for: original ideas and original presentations. Being skilled at describing a familiar concept in a novel way, creating new analogies to more effectively explain old ideas, and the ability to generate entirely new ideas altogether will all continue to be highly valued skills.
Cowen goes on to say that some activities might be able to skip the competition for originality:
Alternatively, many humans will run away from such competitive struggles altogether. Currently the bots are much better at writing than say becoming a master gardener, which also requires skills of physical execution and moving in open space. We might thus see a great blossoming of talent in the area of gardening, and other hard to copy inputs, if only to protect one’s reputation and IP from the bots.
Athletes, in the broad sense of that term, may thus rise in status. Sculpture and dance might gain on writing in cultural import and creativity. Counterintuitively, if you wanted our culture to become more real and visceral in terms of what commands audience attention and inspiration, perhaps the bots are exactly what you’ve been looking for.
I still think that, when the dust settles, generative AI will be used primarily for filler: clip art, boilerplate, and advertising copy. Regardless, the most durable artworks will be those that are inbued with extratextual meaning. You’ll be in a better position if your work is closer to Kehinde Wiley than Mondrian.
