‘I want AI to do my laundry and dishes so that I can do art and writing. Not for AI to do my art and writing, so that I can do my laundry and dishes’ (Joanna Maciejewska, 2024). This widely circulated quote captures growing unease about the potential displacement of human intellectual labour and creativity by AI. With the rapid deployment of generative AI in the arts, many creative professionals worry that this technology will be especially disruptive for the creative industries (image, video, new media), as well as for how we reward creativity in education and academic research. Simply put, generative AI is showing signs that it can perform a wide variety of creative tasks, often with speed, accuracy, and alacrity. This creates a problem because many still see creativity as a key capacity of human beings, equally as distinctive as rationality or the capacity for political participation. How should we respond to the seemingly creative capabilities of generative AI? Should we take these creative abilities seriously? What ethical issues must be dealt with in using generative AI in creative work? And looking in the other direction, does generative AI have anything to teach us about human creativity? If so, what can we learn from it? This course will explore how generative AI changes our concept of creativity, and how future iterations of this technology may transform how creativity is regarded as a fundamentally human characteristic.
Day 1 begins by exploring how philosophers understand creativity, as well as how generative AI shows signs of challenging this. This will be followed (Day 2) by an exploration of the key philosophical issues generative AI raises for creativity. Day 3 will introduce practitioners who use AI creatively, including the computer scientist, Iyad Rahwan, and the new media artist, Helena Nikonole. The final two days explore how these ethical issues should govern the use of generative AI (Day 4) and for the future of work (Day 5). During the course, participants will write an abstract on a potential paper on the philosophy of creativity and generative AI (assessed), as well as writing a plan for a future academic article on this topic (optional).
By the end of this course, participants understand the following topics:
Primary target group | PhD candidates & ReMa students |
If places available also open to | Postdocs |
Type of activity | Course |
Certificate credit points | 5 ECTS (seminar participation and writing a one-page abstract) |
Organizer | Eindhoven University of Technology (Dr. Matthew Dennis) |
Location | |
Date | January 22, 2025 @ 11:00 |
Venue | TU Eindhoven Campus |
DAY 1 (Wednesday January 22): Foundational Issues
AM Session (11:00–13:00):
PM Session (14:00–16:00)
PM Optional Reading & Writing Session (16:30–17:30):
DAY 2 (Thursday January 23): Key Philosophical Issues I
AM Session (11:00–13:00):
PM Session (14:00–16:00):
PM Optional Reading & Writing Session (16:30–17:30):
DAY 3 (Friday January 24): Creating Art with Generative AI
AM Session (11:00–13:00):
PM Session (14:00–16:00):
DAY 4 (Monday January 27): Key Philosophical Issues II
AM Session (11:00–13:00):
PM Session (14:00–16:00):
PM Optional Reading & Writing Session (16:30–17:30):
DAY 5 (Tuesday January 28): The Future of Creative Work
AM Session (11:00–13:00):
PM Session (14:00–16:00):
PM Optional Reading & Writing Session (16:30–17:30):
Participants will be assessed in the following ways:
Participants will finish the course with the following (optional) takeaways:
Costs:
How to register:
The registration deadline is December 19, 2024. If registration has been closed because the maximum amount of participants has been reached, you can submit your name to the waiting list by sending an email to . Please also indicate whether you are a ReMA student or PhD candidate and whether you are a member of the OZSW or not.
The OZSW registration and cancellation policy applies to this activity (to be found here).
Name | Eindhoven University of Technology (Dr. Matthew Dennis) |