Generative AI and Creative Work: Narratives, Values, and Impacts

TL;DR

This paper analyzes how media narratives around generative AI influence perceptions of creative work, emphasizing automation's role in promoting efficiency and democratization, while reflecting techno-positivist views.

Contribution

It provides a critical review of online media discourses on AI's impact on creativity, highlighting dominant narratives and their cultural implications.

Findings

Media promotes automation as a means to enhance efficiency.

Discourse suggests AI democratizes creativity by reducing skill barriers.

Narratives reflect techno-positivist perspectives on AI's role in culture.

Abstract

Generative AI has gained a significant foothold in the creative and artistic sectors. In this context, the concept of creative work is influenced by discourses originating from technological stakeholders and mainstream media. The framing of narratives surrounding creativity and artistic production not only reflects a particular vision of culture but also actively contributes to shaping it. In this article, we review online media outlets and analyze the dominant narratives around AI's impact on creative work that they convey. We found that the discourse promotes creativity freed from its material realisation through human labor. The separation of the idea from its material conditions is achieved by automation, which is the driving force behind productive efficiency assessed as the reduction of time taken to produce. And the withdrawal of the skills typically required in the execution of the creative process is seen as a means for democratising creativity. This discourse tends to correspond to the dominant techno-positivist vision and to assert power over the creative economy and culture.