"Who Fights with the Sword Dies with the Sword": An Artist's Perspective on AI - part 2, with Ela Orleans, audiovisual artist and composer

In part 2 of this frank and refreshing discussion of art and AI with Ela Orleans, an audiovisual artist and composer, paradoxes abound. For Ela, AI is a creative tool that simultaneously enhances and diminishes her creative potential, a practical means of both fulfilling and subverting professional expectations, and a useful yet ironic weapon that she has added to her aresenal to help her fight against poverty, discrimination, and the continuing impact of a (post)colonial value system that affects artists and our world. Ultimately, Ela argues that a willingness to take responsibility for ourselves, as individuals and as a society, lies at the heart of resolving the conflicts between humans and AI. As she points out, the social, economic, and ecological problems of today have not been created by machines; but, if we fail to address the root causes of those problems, they are likely to lead us into further difficulties in the age of AI. Ela offers a candid  and thoughtful appraisal of what she sees as the the losses and possible gains from AI for artists like her, who hope to make their voices heard in a world that is hungry for new ideas - whether or not we know it.