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Lesson plan; Stephen Fry reads Nick Cave’s letter:

Ann S. Michaelsen

The challenge of ChatGPT and the future of art:

Objective:

To understand the challenges posed by artificial intelligence (AI) to the future of art.

Procedure:

  1. Discuss how AI-powered language models can produce a wide range of outputs, including but not limited to poems, code, scripts, musical pieces, emails, and letters. Does this open up a world of possibilities for innovation and creativity?
  2. Have the students read the letter from Nick Cave and discuss it in groups
  3. Show students the YouTube video of Stephen Fry reading Nick Cave’s letter. After watching the video, ask students to discuss the following questions:
  1. Divide students into small groups and have them write a text about the future of art. Encourage them to consider the following questions:

  1. Have each group present their text to the class. After each presentation, facilitate a discussion about the group’s ideas.

  2. Conclude the lesson by asking students to reflect on the following question:

In this YouTube video from OpenCulture, Stephen Fry reads the letter from Nick Cave to Leaon and Charlie.

In August of this year, as part of his Red Hand Files correspondence project, legendary musician Nick Cave was asked questions about creativity and ChatGPT by two fans, Leon and Charlie. Nick replied with a single letter, which Stephen Fry joined us to read at the 10th anniversary Letters Live show at London’s Royal Albert Hall in November 2023.

Dear Leon and Charlie,

In the story of the creation, God makes the world, and everything in it, in six days. On the seventh day he rests. The day of rest is significant because it suggests that the creation required a certain effort on God’s part, that some form of artistic struggle had taken place. This struggle is the validating impulse that gives God’s world its intrinsic meaning. The world becomes more than just an object full of other objects, rather it is imbued with the vital spirit, the pneuma, of its creator.

ChatGPT rejects any notions of creative struggle, that our endeavours animate and nurture our lives giving them depth and meaning. It rejects that there is a collective, essential and unconscious human spirit underpinning our existence, connecting us all through our mutual striving.

ChatGPT is fast-tracking the commodification of the human spirit by mechanising the imagination. It renders our participation in the act of creation as valueless and unnecessary.  That ‘songwriter ‘you were talking to, Leon, who is using ChatGPT to write ‘his’ lyrics because it is ‘faster and easier ,’is participating in this erosion of the world’s soul and the spirit of humanity itself and, to put it politely, should fucking desist if he wants to continue calling himself a songwriter.

ChatGPT’s intent is to eliminate the process of creation  and its attendant challenges, viewing it as nothing more than a time-wasting inconvenience that stands in the way of the commodity itself. Why strive?, it contends. Why bother with the artistic process and its accompanying trials? Why shouldn’t we make it ‘faster and easier?’

When the God of the Bible looked upon what He had created, He did so with a sense of accomplishment and saw that ‘it was good‘. ‘It was good ‘because it required something of His own self, and His struggle imbued creation with a moral imperative, in short love. Charlie, even though the creative act requires considerable effort, in the end you will be contributing to the vast network of love that supports human existence. There are all sorts of temptations in this world that will eat away at your creative spirit, but none more fiendish than that boundless machine of artistic demoralisation, ChatGPT.

As humans, we so often feel helpless in our own smallness, yet still we find the resilience to do and make beautiful things, and this is where the meaning of life resides. Nature reminds us of this constantly. The world is often cast as a purely malignant place, but still the joy of creation exerts itself, and as the sun rises upon the struggle of the day, the Great Crested Grebe dances upon the water. It is our striving that becomes the very essence of meaning. This impulse – the creative dance – that is now being so cynically undermined, must be defended at all costs, and just as we would fight any existential evil, we should fight it tooth and nail, for we are fighting for the very soul of the world.

Love, Nick

Essay Question 1:

In Nick Cave’s letter to Leon and Charlie, he argues that ChatGPT poses a threat to the “soul of the world” by eliminating the effort and struggle that are necessary for true creativity. Do you agree with Cave’s assessment? Why or why not? In your essay, consider the following questions:

Essay Question 2:

Some people believe that AI-powered creativity tools like ChatGPT can democratize art by making it more accessible to people who lack traditional artistic skills. Do you believe that this is a positive or negative development? In your essay, consider the following questions:

Essay Question 3:

Nick Cave concludes his letter by urging us to defend the creative spirit at all costs, arguing that it is the very essence of what makes us human. Do you agree with Cave’s sentiment? Why or why not? In your essay, consider the following questions:

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