When I say that a particular item is the product of “collaboration with AI”, I mean something a bit different from saying that artwork came from AI+.

AIs don’t spontaneously generate beautiful, high-level concepts for an artistic project. I hope I do that. From that starting point, I spend minutes, hours, or longer, describing to one or more AIS the vision, the context, and the constraints that make the project meaningful and worth pursuing. Often, I’ll offer some thoughts on structure, theme, technique, internal aesthetics I want to achieve, etc. Maybe I’ll provide some starting content of my own.

Then at some point, I’ll ask the AI to suggest some content, and I will critique and iterate. I recommend experiments. I question assumptions. Sometimes I’ll rewrite chunks to meet my own standards or to achieve an artistic or emotional goal that I don’t think the AI can handle.

The ratio of creativity from an AI to creativity from me is stacked more in the AI’s direction when it has access to tools or skills I lack (e.g., music performance with specialized instruments), and more in my direction when metaphor, theme, semantics, emotion, and tone are front and center.

Either way, the result is probably best described as a collaboration, not just as AI-generated content.