The Big Picture
These conversations show AI moving into art, music, comedy and film from several directions at once [1][4][6]. Guest Dmitry Korkin describes Deep Rembrandt, a collaboration between Rembrandt experts in the Netherlands and an AI group that trained an algorithm to replicate Rembrandt's style and printed a portrait that never existed before; he found it mind-blowing [1]. Guest Mark Zuckerberg describes fun AIs that tell jokes or liven up group chats, including a text-based adventure dungeon master played by Snoop Dogg that was internal testers' favorite [5]. On The Joe Rogan Experience, host Joe Rogan and guest Tim Dillon touch on AI-generated songs imitating Drake and Eminem [4], and in another episode an AI-generated short film about a man with a balloon head is played [6].
The mood differs by seat. The builders and researchers are mostly excited about new tools and new kinds of characters [1][3][5]. On Rogan's show the tone is more uneasy: Dillon agrees the change is creepy and will eliminate a lot of jobs, and neither he nor Rogan sees a way to stop it [4]. Running through all of it is one open question: how much of entertainment depends on a real person being there [4][6].
Where the Experts Agree
- AI can already produce convincing creative work. Korkin points to the Rembrandt-style portrait, printed on canvas with much the same kinds of paint, and to a student group in his AI class whose haiku generator produced best selections that seemed profound and reasonable [1].
- AI is arriving as a tool inside creative work. Lex Fridman, as host, praises iZotope's audio tools, which he uses on his podcast, and singles out their ability to separate voice from music as incredible [1]. Zuckerberg expects tools built into every product, such as describing how you want a photo edited, and, in the metaverse, describing a world and having the code generated for you [3].
- The industry is treating it as serious. Dillon notes that studios and streamers invested heavily in in-house AI during the pandemic [4]. Guest Donnell Rawlings mentions a report that Tyler Perry paused an $800 million studio expansion after seeing OpenAI's Sora [6].
- The change is not slowing. Rogan calls it a train with "insane momentum" [4].
- Creators are a central use. Zuckerberg says every creator will want an AI that can represent them and engage fans [3], and for creators with more demand from their communities than hours in the day he envisions an AI version of yourself that people know is an AI [5].
Where They Differ
Has AI art really arrived? Korkin is struck by what already exists [1]. Lex argues there has not yet been an AlexNet moment for art, and that in music human-created pieces remain far more popular; the moment that would matter, he says, is an AI-created piece of music or a show popular enough to make serious money [1].
Stand-in or substitute? Zuckerberg presents an AI version of a creator as the next best thing to the person [5]. Rogan, having seen Post Malone live the night before, argues that fans singing along with a real person is something powerful that a fake cannot fully replace [4]. He also speculates that live events like sports and stand-up may be one of the last refuges from computer-generated entertainment [6].
Opportunity or loss of work? Zuckerberg describes agents for creators and businesses and an advertiser simply stating a goal and letting the system create and test the ads [3]. Rogan points to studios wanting access to background actors' images forever, so a digital version could fill a crowd scene without paying anyone, and raises a harder question: if a business can be run better by AI, does it have a responsibility to hire humans to do a lesser job? [4] Rawlings predicts that agencies and other middlemen will disappear as content creators go straight to advertisers [6].
Can a personal style be copied? Dillon wonders whether his own style of comedy would be hard to replicate, while Rogan suspects some people could already write jokes in the style of Mitch Hedberg [4]. Zuckerberg notes that an AI of a real creator is harder than inventing new characters, because it must not say things the creator wouldn't want; since these are trained models rather than programmed ones, the challenge is making them predictable enough to stay within set bounds [5].
Craft. Rawlings worries that when young creators get rich before getting good, there is less urgency to master the craft, though Rogan points to MrBeast as a model of mastering the system [6]. Rogan even speculates that future AI could design a step-by-step career plan for a comic [6].
Practical Takeaways
- Try AI as a production tool first: Lex uses iZotope's audio tools on his podcast and values their separation of voice from music [1].
- Judge AI art by Lex's test: whether an AI-created piece of music or a show becomes popular enough to make serious money [1].
- If you perform, lean into live work; Rogan thinks live events may be one of the last refuges from computer-generated entertainment [6].
- If you are a creator with more demand than hours, consider Zuckerberg's picture of an AI version of yourself that people know is an AI [5].
- Before putting your name on an AI persona, check that it stays within set bounds and does not say things you wouldn't want [5].
- Pay attention to who gets access to your image and for how long; Rogan's sketchiest detail was studios wanting background actors' images forever [4].
- Keep mastering the craft; Rawlings warns that getting rich before getting good reduces the urgency to do so [6].
- Expect many different AIs with different roles rather than one; that is Zuckerberg's stated view [3].
Sources
- Dmitry Korkin on Protein Domains, Coronavirus Structure, AlphaFold 2 and the Origin of Life · Lex Fridman Podcast
- Lex Fridman on Machines, Creativity, Friendship and Love · Huberman Lab
- Mark Zuckerberg on Open-Source AI, Llama, Moderation, Layoffs, Quest 3 and Jiu-Jitsu · Lex Fridman Podcast
- Tim Dillon on AI, Culture-War Fatigue, Ukraine, Lizzo, Sharks, and Getting Sober (Joe Rogan Experience #2019) · The Joe Rogan Experience
- Mark Zuckerberg: First Interview in the Metaverse · Lex Fridman Podcast
- Donnell Rawlings on Heckling Into Comedy, Acting, AI and 'A New Day' (Joe Rogan Experience #2126) · The Joe Rogan Experience
