On Music Boxes and Midjourney

I’ve been learning about artificial intelligence for well over a decade now and never cease to be amazed at the questions that arise from it. One question that particularly piqued my interest is the distinction between creativity and problem-solving, especially in the context of AI-generated art and music. Ever since I was exposed to the work of Prof. David Cope, I was fascinated that instead of creating music, one could make a machine that creates music. While the idea of automated music is not entirely new, with music boxes dating back to the late 18th century, the complexity of what can be created with software is far beyond what can be achieved mechanically. In this article, we’ll explore the differences between creativity and problem-solving and how they relate to artificial intelligence and the music box.

Stravinsky once referred to Ravel as “the most perfect of Swiss watchmakers.” derisively. This implied that while complex and precise, Ravel’s music was too mechanical and lacked a certain emotional depth. Was Ravel just mechanical? A problem solver? Anyone who’s heard his music should be able to answer that question easily, but I think it raises a great question concerning the devices we build that border or tread on creative soil.

Do music boxes exhibit creativity in the same way as music compositions do? Are the uses of generative AI examples of creativity or problem-solving? When we build a device to play the song we write or use a machine-learning model to generate an image, are we engaging in creativity or merely constructing an object for a practical purpose?

To answer this question, we need to define creativity and problem-solving. Creativity is the act of engaging the imagination to create something that is both novel and interesting or useful. The act of creativity must involve the imagination, and the result of it must in some way reveal something about the author, the human condition, or the world or enable or augment some behavior hitherto impossible or somehow lesser without that result.

What is problem-solving, then? Certainly, it can involve the imagination but could involve the memory instead. It can be novel, but often the result can be tried and true rather than cutting-edge. The result must not always be interesting; sometimes, the solution to a problem can be rather bland, but it must always be useful. We are then left with the definition of problem-solving as finding a solution to a specific issue or challenge, often using a combination of logic, experience, and knowledge. The result of problem-solving must be a practical and achievable solution to the problem at hand, improving the situation somehow.

While creativity and problem-solving both involve some level of imagination and novelty, the key difference lies in the purpose of the result. Creativity aims to create something that reveals something new or allows for new behavior, while problem-solving seeks to find a practical solution to an existing challenge.

Creating a music box can be viewed as more of a problem-solving exercise than an act of creativity. It takes creativity to complete the form and shape of the box, fit the pieces together, craft the tines, and carefully notch the notes into the cylinder at precise metric intervals. Still, a music box is a solution to a problem. It’s practical. Its purpose is to provide music in the absence of a live performance. While its intent may be creative, the result cannot reach much beyond the room the box is in. It reveals no new ideas or thoughts; it’s simply there to make pleasant sounds. There are many symphonies or songs that bring their listeners to tears, but if a music box has ever done so, it’s likely due to nostalgia rather than the object itself. The human behind the music box may create it to play a song that may resonate with the deepest part of our soul; it’s ultimately the song and not the mechanism that plays it from which we derive meaning.

Conversely, a piece of music expresses an idea that can be carried by a voice, a guitar, or an out-of-tune piano in the back of an old cottage in the woods; it’s much more than a solution to a problem. It’s a novel idea that reveals something about its author and can reveal something about its performer or listener. Great music transcends the ink or 1s and 0s it was written with and can reach into our minds, exposing us to new ideas, thoughts, and feelings.

By the same token, an image, video, or audio created by a generative AI is a solution to a problem: the lack of an image, video, or audio file. As with the music box, creativity is likely involved in creating the prompt, carefully sorting through the dozens of ideas that don’t match the creator’s vision, blending, merging, and filtering. AI may be able to create something interesting or aesthetically pleasing, but it cannot convey new ideas or emotions. When an artist combines images, ideas, and inspiration, they filter those images, ideas, and inspiration through a lifetime of lived experience, context, and sensation. An AI model merely sorts pixels probabilistically without any understanding of their meaning. While the human behind the prompt may have some truth they wish to reveal about themselves or the world, the machine categorically cannot. While the human behind the AI may use it to create an image that may resonate with us, the meaning is what resonates. The image, even though we may be unaware of it, is unoriginal ab initio due to how it has been produced.

Of course, this is not to say that generative AI has no value or that it’s impossible to be creative with it. It can certainly be used as a part of the creative process and can be an incredible aid to expression. However, it’s most beneficial in fields such as game art, design, and advertising, where the goal is to create a practical solution that effectively communicates a specific message or serves a particular purpose. After all, does your concrete texture need to express something about the world, or is it just solving a problem? The takeaway is that we should be careful not to conflate problem-solving with creativity. While they may overlap in some areas, they are ultimately different concepts with different goals.

The difference between creativity and problem-solving lies in the purpose of the result. Creativity aims to create something new and insightful, while problem-solving seeks a practical solution to an existing challenge. Music boxes and generative AI are machines that border on creative terrain but usually land within the borders of problem-solving. The discussion around creativity, problem-solving, and AI can be an incredibly complicated one, particularly given the rapid rate of progress in AI. However, when you read the next sensationalist rag ranting about how ML models will replace all human creativity, perhaps you’ll stop and think of a music box and whether it’s the song or the mechanism inside that matters to us.