How AI unleashed (not replaced) my creativity | Kelly A. Boesch

Elise Hu (0:04)

You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hugh.

Few subjects spark as much debate right now as AI and art. Is it a threat to human creativity or a tool that expands it? Visual artist and filmmaker Kelly Boesch has spent the last few years exploring this question from the inside, using AI as a central part of how she makes her work.

Kelly A. Boesch (0:30)

Lately, people have been asking me these same two questions. Is it really art and how do you do it?

And this first one's really hard for me to answer because AI art is brand new, and we're all still trying to figure out where it fits in. For the first time, the distance between what I imagined and what I could create has closed.

Elise Hu (0:49)

In her talk, Kelly shares how she came to use AI as what she calls a creative collaborator across images, short films, and original music and where that has taken her. She also takes on the questions many artists raise about AI art, including the concern over where these tools get their training material, and gives a firsthand look at how she's thinking about a technology that's reshaping the field. It's all coming up right after a short break.

And now, our TED Talk of the day.

Kelly A. Boesch (1:29)

As an artist, I want to tell you that AI has completely changed the trajectory of my life. Let me show you into some of my worlds.

When some people were focused on productivity and efficiency, I've been focused on trying to figure out how to incorporate AI into my art, like a new paintbrush, a canvas, a camera, a music studio, a doorway into my imagination. I've worked in film production and fashion, and most recently as a graphic designer, but nothing has sparked my curiosity like AI has. And my first images were less visionary artists and more, as my friends used to say, what is that? But I leaned into the strangeness of the AI, and now it has become my signature style. And I feel like I have a new superpower, and I'm only limited by my imagination, which seems to be endlessly filled with ideas now. For the first time, the distance between what I imagined and what I could create has closed. Once AI video was available, I started animating my AI images and making short films. But I felt like something was missing, so I wanted to make my own music to better match the emotion behind my visuals. So I started writing lyrics and using AI to collaborate on the instrumentation. And I draw my inspiration from my lyrics, from my visuals or from my life experiences. And I never thought that my music would take on a life of its own, but it has, as I just landed a record deal.

Thank you. That feels extraordinary at this chapter of my life.

When the music and the visual align perfectly, it can feel like magic. In this next clip I'm going to show you from my video, Quiet Rebellion, I wrote these lyrics about living as your authentic self and wearing your strange like a crown.

Thank you.

Lately, people have been asking me these same two questions. Is it really art, and how do you do it? And this first one is really hard for me to answer because AI art is brand new, and we're all still trying to figure out where it fits in. And there's intense feelings on both sides. And a lot of people are saying, you know, it's a lot of work There's, but lots you of discussion know, it's about a lot AI of being trained work on other artists', and work, as it's I a was lot as of an art major work. But, when I sit down to create, there's no other artists' work on my screen. I use references from things in nature, like flowers or insects, patterns, fashion, or whimsical ideas that have been floating around in my head. For me, artists personal, I just want to make things that bring me joy. And if they do the same to someone else, well, maybe that's the definition right there. And how do you do it? Let me take you behind the scenes for a moment. This image was made in mid-journey using this prompt. A character in a fairy tale scene in a marketplace, enchanted in cinematic. And it's an okay image, very AI, nothing at all special.

Elise Hu (5:22)

Here we see an image on the screen behind Kelly of the software she's referring to, with the prompt she mentions in captions under an image of a computer-animated looking young woman in a busy, old-fashioned market.