As AI increasingly helps us make art, write code, do science, and decide who to follow, will it homogenize or diversify human cultural expression?
Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping culture, creativity, and human behavior in profound ways. Dr. Iyad Rahwan is director of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, where he founded and directs the Center for Humans & Machines. Rahwan's work lies at the intersection of computer science and human behavior, with a focus on the impact of Artificial Intelligence and digital media on the way we think, learn, work, play, cooperate and govern.
He joins this episode of Many Minds Podcast to offer insights on how AI can act as both a collaborator and a force of transformation — raising questions about impact on art, language, and the future of cultural diversity.
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"The machines are coming. Scratch that — they’re already here: AIs that propose new combinations of ideas; chatbots that help us summarize texts or write code; algorithms that tell us who to friend or follow, what to watch or read. For a while the reach of intelligent machines may have seemed somewhat limited. But not anymore — or, at least, not for much longer. The presence of AI is growing, accelerating, and, for better or worse, human culture may never be the same.
My guest today is Dr. Iyad Rahwan. Iyad directs the Center for Humans and Machines at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin. Iyad is a bit hard to categorize. He’s equal parts computer scientist and artist; one magazine profile described him as “the Anthropologist of AI.” Labels aside, his work explores the emerging relationships between AI, human behavior, and society. In a recent paper, Iyad and colleagues introduced a framework for understanding what they call “machine culture.” The framework offers a way of thinking about the different routes through which AI may transform—is transforming—human culture.
Here, Iyad and I talk about his work as a painter and how he brings AI into the artistic process. We discuss whether AIs can make art by themselves and whether they may eventually develop good taste. We talk about how AIphaGoZero upended the world of Go and about how LLMs might be changing how we speak. We consider what AIs might do to cultural diversity. We discuss the field of cultural evolution and how it provides tools for thinking about this brave new age of machine culture. Finally, we discuss whether any spheres of human endeavor will remain untouched by AI influence."
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Templeton World Charity Foundation's Diverse Intelligences is a multiyear, global effort to understand a world alive with brilliance in many forms. Its mission is to promote open-minded, forward-looking inquiry in animal, human, and machine intelligences. We collaborate with leading experts and emerging scholars from around the globe, developing high-caliber projects that advance our comprehension of the constellation of intelligences.
Many Minds is a project of the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI), made possible through a grant from TWCF to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The Many Minds podcast is hosted and produced by Kensy Cooperrider, with help from Assistant Producer Urte Laukaityte. Creative support is provided by DISI Directors Erica Cartmill and Jacob Foster. Artwork featured as the podcast badge is by Ben Oldroyd. Transcripts are created by Sarah Dopierala.
Image: A gallery visitor with paintings by Iyad Rahwan, from his "Faces of Machine" series. Both are oil on canvas panel, from 2023. From left to right: "Machine 7" and "Machine 11."
