earticle

영어

This study conducted an art-based research project in which the researcher personally collaborated with AI to produce music tracks, aiming to explore the impact of collaboration with a creator-centric AI music system on the creative process, the creator’s identity, and the final musical output. For an in-depth analysis of the research process, the autoethnography methodology was applied to meticulously record and analyze the internal experiences and decision-making processes encountered during creation. The findings revealed that the collaborative relationship between human and AI is not fixed but dynamically shifts among the roles of an ‘efficient tool,’ an ‘unfamiliar provider of inspiration (colleague),’ and an ‘active creative partner,’ depending on the context. Notably, the unpredictability of AI acted as a ‘creative catalyst,’ breaking human creative inertia. In this process, the locus of creative agency expanded from the ‘individual I’ to the ‘networked we,’ encompassing both the creator and the AI. Consequently, the creator’s role was reconfigured from that of a ‘creator’ who makes something from nothing to a ‘curator’ or ‘mediator’ who selects from the infinite possibilities generated by AI and weaves them into a meaningful whole by providing context. The final product, the album, exhibited a unique aesthetic characteristic under the concept of ‘Mechanical Sensibility,’ where predictable structures under human control coexist with unpredictable details unique to the AI. This suggests that new artistic possibilities can be generated when AI’s capabilities, despite their technical limitations, are combined with human aesthetic judgment. In conclusion, AI can be a radical partner that alleviates the burdens of creation and expands creative horizons, rather than a being that replaces human creators. In the age of AI, the core competency of human creators will lie more in the ‘ability to give context and create a narrative’ than in technical proficiency. This study is significant in that it presents a practical case for exploring such future creative methodologies.