Teddy Chan Tak-sum. [Photo Provided to China Daily]

The genie is out the bottle

As ChatGPT and other large language models improve themselves at an exponential rate and pace, their enhanced intelligence will bring about a reshuffle in creative jobs by introducing new job descriptions and transforming creatives into more-efficient performers.

To Tam, the whole process of "teasing" a piece of chords and lyrics out of ChatGPT was fun-packed — a thrill akin to unboxing — as it spat out a barrage of versions within just 30 minutes, which would take at least a week for a human composer. While some of ChatGPT's results didn't cut the lyrics either because they were clumsy or the dynamics were unhinged, the rest were "surprisingly brilliant", says Tam, who was even inspired by the chatbot's peppy tunes.

"My initial intent was to create something exclusively with the piano for the mellow nostalgic vibe. But ChatGPT's funky reference gave me the 'eureka' moment. It struck me as, 'Ah, love songs can come with a choppy and zesty verve!' So I threw the guitar into the mix."

"We humans are a very subjective labor force, dictated by harbored bias or habits without knowledge," says Tam. As a result, humans tend to go for the safest bet, he added.

It's true that ChatGPT or AI has no visceral sentiment and sentience to its detriment. But on the flip side, when it's used as an assistant or tool in artistic creations, it allows creatives an envelope-pushing mindset without being blinded by intrinsic or habitual bias and being stuck in a rut.

Now that AI can yield standard, run-of-the-mill musical pieces which can gain commercial success, human wannabes will have to develop an out-of-the-box bespoke musical lexicon and pathos if they are really eager to stand out.