AI: Expanding Human Perspective

For some the biggest revelation of the 21st century, for others the biggest villain in recent times – AI. It is high time we expand our perspective and look at this non-human intelligence from a strictly human perspective.

As someone who has just released the world’s first AI-generated feature film Nothingness, I’ll start with the filmmaking and art perspective. For that, let’s go all the way back to the mid-30s and 40s, when the first TVs appeared. They were a technological marvel – not something to be feared.

But then came the 50s and 60s with phrases like “devil’s box” (if you were religious) or “idiot box” and “boob tube” (if you considered yourself more intelligent). Later, in the 70s, social commentators described TV as a “mind-control machine” or a “soul trap.”

Whenever there was a leap in technology, there were doubting Thomases and skeptics who couldn’t understand what it was about. And, as always, it’s much easier to throw stones than to nurture trees. Luckily for us, we didn’t listen to them; we kept nurturing the trees and their roots. As technology continued evolving alongside television, a new big-screen baby was born: animation. From 2D to 3D – and now too many styles and techniques to list – animation has added so much to our cinematic experience. And we all love it.

So why can’t we love its latest offspring – AI? Not only do we fail to appreciate it, some of us even hate it. Some say the people we see in AI-generated videos aren’t real human beings. But neither are the characters in animation or in what we call “live-action” films – yet we love those. Yes, animated characters aren’t real (hopefully that’s clear), but neither are characters in “real” films. Not only do actors act, portraying fake emotions in fake situations, but even documentaries, which show true events and real people, don’t contain real humans. They never did – they are just images.

Yes, they are just digital paintings, and despite what people said in the 50s and 60s, no one was ever trapped inside your TV. A film is simply a sequence of images played at high speed, regardless of what they show. Whether it’s a sitcom, a quiz show or nature documentary, they are just a flow of digital pictures. That is why we call it a ‘motion picture’, when these pictures are shown in rapid succession, they create the illusion of movement – and voilà, you can laugh and cry with your beloved characters.

If we can relate to animated characters and “unreal” real-film characters, why can’t we relate to AI-generated films? Not only can we – we already do. People can feel moved by cave drawings created thousands of years ago. Nothing stops them from feeling the same with AI films. In fact, I don’t think such a distinction should even exist, because in a sense, every film is already artificial. Whether analog or digital, it’s not actual human beings living inside your smartphone, pretending to be in your favorite horror fantasy.

Going back to the cave drawings – I mention them for a reason. They are among the first AI tools ever created by humans. Yes, these prehistoric paintings on cave walls and ceilings are the earliest representations of non-human or, if you will, artificial intelligence. They were made by humans for humans, but they are not human. They are nothing but natural pigments – red and black ochre, charcoal – applied to solid rock. Long after the artists died, we can still see their work because, although the humans who created them are gone, their primitive AI remains.

I want you to understand that even your tap water is AI. It has a mind of its own. You pull the lever up, and magic happens – water starts flowing. You push the lever down, and the flow stops. All you have to do is give it a prompt. It may not be a textual prompt, but you give it a command, and it executes. You don’t have to blow or suck the water yourself for it to flow through the pipes; you don’t have to go to the nearest river to collect water in buckets. This handy AI tool does it for you with one simple command. It is a product of humans, for the use of humans – but it’s not human. And it will be here long after you’re gone.

All you have to do is put the key in your car or press a button to start it. Then, with a gentle press on a pedal, it starts moving. You keep giving prompts, and the car keeps executing them. But what you don’t see are the processes in the engine that get your car going. These processes are not human processes; they happen on their own without your interference. Once again, the human gives the car a prompt, and the car executes. Made by humans, but it’s not human intelligence that runs the car. You’re not pushing it yourself.

And this applies to every single device ever made, regardless of its complexity. From one industrial revolution to another, products, machines, and processes have become more and more sophisticated. That’s why today everything happens with one click. You order your food with one click, play your favorite song with one click, or even play with your imaginary girl with one click. And yet, I bet you enjoy that AI.

But this AI is suddenly an issue? Why? Because it will take our jobs.

“The iron horse will plow day and night – but it will never love its master like a true horse does.”

This was a common sentiment in early 1900s newspapers – and you guessed it, it was about tractors. When the first tractors appeared, what ten people needed a whole week to complete, one tractor could do in less than an hour. Naturally, this transformed rural life – reducing manual labor, increasing farm size, and reshaping the economy. But it also led to fewer farm jobs and contributed to urban migration.

Similarly, there are many other examples: the sewing machine revolutionized home and factory work, the phonograph transformed the music industry, and the printing press, steam engine, photography, automobile, and telephone all reshaped society. More recently, television, personal computers, the Internet, smartphones, electric cars – and now AI -have continued this pattern.

These are just some examples, but each of these inventions caused mass layoffs while creating new jobs and professions. It is as simple as that. AI is no exception. On one hand, graphic designers and animators may need to branch out into other industries, while emerging screenwriters and singers could finally bring their dreams to life. But this comes from human intelligence, not artificial intelligence. And let’s not forget – graphic designers and animators got their start in the first place thanks to the same AI.

But this doesn’t mean AI will completely eradicate industries and professions. Just as TV, radio, and animation didn’t eliminate theatres and live performances, traditional filmmaking will continue – only in a more enhanced form (e.g. using fewer resources for added production value, finding more creative and effective solutions, etc.). The history of storytelling shows us that change has always been constant: from live Greek tragedies in amphitheaters, to live sports broadcasts, to reruns of Friends and The Big Bang Theory.

For me, one thing was certain: if it weren’t for AI, I’d probably share the same fate as millions of other unproduced writers still waiting for that big opportunity that never comes. Only a few thousand films get made every year – or should I say remade, with all these unimaginative remakes, reboots, and franchises exploited to the last breath – and a significant portion of them are by the same Hollywood writers. AI not only breaks this gatekeeping but also challenges the lack of creativity, giving space for original and unique stories to be seen and shared with the world. Just look at this amazing fact: previously, producing two minutes of high-end animation required 20 people and $2 million over two months; now AI is steadily moving toward doing the same in just a few minutes for a dozen dollars. WOOOW.

From the very first day, humans have tried to improve their lives in terms of comfort and convenience, which has meant constant change and adaptation – the main quality of existence itself. In other words, it’s not intelligent to resist change, because doing so is resisting the very human intelligence that brings change. It’s like a hand trying to kick its own head – you can do it, but please don’t blame someone else.

And that brings us to blame – bad AI, bad. Unlike previous points, I’ll be brief here. Just because someone cannot manage their thoughts and emotions, and ends up spending hours doom-scrolling on social media, we should not conclude that social media itself is bad. If we don’t use the technology but the technology uses us, whose fault is that – ours or “theirs”? Let us stop blaming and instead take responsibility.

And that’s what is needed for AI too: a responsible and sensible approach – not just from our end, but also from the companies developing these technologies. Somewhere halfway through our film Nothingness, I learned that some of these companies were using content available online to train their video generation models. Rumor has it that not all original owners knew this was happening – they were never asked for consent. Most likely, I was one of those content creators with dozens of animated short films publicly available. It made me think and question whether I should continue with the film production.

These and similar allegations – like antitrust and monopolistic practices, mishandling user data, and so on – are not limited to the AI industry. They extend to some of the big tech companies and other industry giants whose platforms we use daily. As an individual, I can decide whether to use their apps, but the law should regulate how these companies operate. More precisely, legislation should be far stricter and more comprehensive in defining their duties and responsibilities.

For me, due to the lack of evidence, I went with the presumption of innocence – but I still knew that where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire. And that got me thinking about other “unethical” practices or malpractices in general. Every aspect of human life has an unethical element if you look closely. Start with the basic necessities: food, water, electricity, shelter. Every single one of them takes from others in order to provide us with the desired benefit. And if we move beyond existential needs to luxury, it only gets worse.

To create electricity, we destroy rivers, forests, soil, and whole ecosystems; we pollute the air, and so on. We do the same to grow food, supply drinking water, build houses, mass-produce cars, drive cars, mass-produce smartphones, make phone calls, play video games, watch TV – it’s a never-ending list. Animals, plants, insects, even other humans give their lives so we can enjoy all of this. And we do it. Every. Single. Day. Without even thinking about it. So why are we so selective and discriminative when it comes to AI?

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