Fall 2024 Fanfare

A Message from the Dean

The headline of a recent New York Times article caught my attention: “AI Can Write Poetry, but It Struggles with Math.” The essence of art is communication from the perspective of the artist, and it is often about, or in reaction to, our current human condition. This applies to both the creation and performance of art. And the practice of mentoring artists includes encouraging authenticity when communicating. A computer responding to prompts by summarizing vast amounts of data hardly feels equivalent to authentically communicating the human experience. But perhaps these are the philosophical conversations we must now have. How are we going to refine the ever-evolving and expanding ways that we communicate, including artistically?

As artificial intelligence continues to emulate human language and learning, we as artists must continue reflecting the world back upon itself from the truly human perspective. If the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, then the most direct form of communication is from one person to another. 

We must continue to remind those who innovate our technology that creativity is not merely a summation of data, nor does it always follow linear thinking patterns. Moments of inspiration sometimes occur when unexpected ideas emerge.

Perhaps, at the end of the day, there’s a middle ground to be found. If we can acknowledge that AI can “write poetry,” we must also agree that humans can write better poetry. Many would argue this is certainly the case with music (for now). And as Northwestern researchers continue engaging in broad conversations about AI and its impact on all that we do, we need musicians to be as much a part of those conversations as anyone else.

Jonathan Bailey Holland
Dean
Kay Davis Professor of Music