As a new artform emerges, one artist rises to the top
This past year has been absolutely wild. As someone that has followed tech for as long as I could read, and someone that has been utilizing AI and programming Machine Learning models for some time now, as Generative AI models began to appear en masse in late 2022, my biggest shock was not at how quickly people began adopting them (although that was mind-blowing), but how creatively people began using these new tools.
I always though I had a solid idea of what AI and generative AI models could do – my imagination is not bound by not understanding the technology, so I thought that I could imagine all that we could do with generative models, large-language models, and GenAI in general. Boy was I wrong. How nïave to think that somehow my imagination could extend out as far as my planet’s co-inhabitants.
But other people’s imaginations extend beyond my own limits, or at least in unseen (by me) directions.
And, some of what other technologists have done with these AI models is beyond what I imagined possible, especially this early on.
The most startling examples of both sides of this comes down to what I can only describe as an entire new artistic medium, namely generative AI video. Perhaps you’ve seen some videos — whether deep fakes of some famous person saying (or signing) something someone else said or wrote or sang, to the ever-changing imagery often synchronized with music that some artists are now producing.
I was first introduced to this new art form by a friend that had acheived mastery in both the art world and the world of technology. As this new media emerged in the past year (less than 12 months, really), Jiho Sohn took to it immediately.
The videos he began producing were captivating and added layers of depth to the music he composed them to. I was mezmorized. But he was only begining. Jiho dove back into art books he hadn’t read in years. He began staying up into the wee hours composing video after video, researching design patterns and art patterns and testing ideas and settings and new ways to prompt these AI engines he was testing and pushing as hard as they would go.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOuvBN45bGM
Months after he began, I became too intent to stand by and began picking up my own digital paintbrushes and canvases, so to speak. I composed many videos, learning and trying, and testing, and getting feedback, but my best efforts are mere children’s scribbles compared to Jiho’s masterpieces.
Studying his work, as an apprentice might study the brushstrokes of a master, I can truly appreciate his brilliance. I have yet to find his equal.
I have no doubt that other masters will emerge as this art-form gains traction, but to date, I have yet to find his equal.
View his work here: https://www.youtube.com/@nocapxl
