We were playing checkers and they were playing chess. That was the first thing I thought when I discovered my new favorite artist on YouTube was actually AI. Nova Soul, a beautiful Black woman, is dressed in a Bohemian-style orange dress with curls cascading down her back. She sang affirmation music, catchy snapback lines about protecting her peace and claiming her blessings with soul and attitude that only a black woman could deliver so melodically.
The vibe was like Saturday morning house-cleaning music, almost gospel-like in the way it delivered messages with God’s divine timing. It checked all the boxes: relaxing instrumental music, life-giving lyrics and an angelic voice. The playlist had been on repeat for a couple of days, and my children asked, “Is that AI?” almost as if they had a built-in sensor that didn’t come with the ’80s baby model. I said, “No, it’s Nova Soul,” with an unjustified level of confidence. However, both children asking on multiple occasions during different songs made my eyebrows raise. I decided to do some digging to verify if Nova Soul was, in fact, a person. I couldn’t turn up an artist under the name that resembled the YouTube depiction of her. Upon further exploring of the YouTube page, I noticed that it was not Nova Soul but the Nova Soul Music Group. I could have slid down the wall crying like a 90’s R&B singer who just lost his girlfriend. Not Nova Soul!
Why is Nova Soul So Frightening?
I found several inquiries similar to mine, searching for answers about whether Nova Soul actually existed. We were all duped. It was probably the scariest encounter I’ve ever had with AI because I realized that the whole time, AI has been harvesting our talents, our knowledge and our likeness for likes. AI data centers have stolen the gifts we have shared freely, hoping for a chance to make a profit. AI is studying our gifts thoroughly through analytics and creating prototypes based on the best of all of our talents without any recognition or royalty to the source. Black people have always faced theft of our ideas and talent, but the use of AI allows it to be done with more sophistication.
AI created a super form based on what data has revealed about what the masses have liked, laughed at and loved. It’s like a real-life “Get Out” movie. Stolen bodies and gifts for those whose gene pool didn’t possess them. We are watching our bodies perform all the best that we’ve ever offered while we watch from our screens. Who created this song, image, book, movie or policy? You can no longer even trust your eyes to decipher the truth.
What Does AI Steal from the Fabric of Society?
The second layer of the danger of AI is what it steals from the human experience. I read an article that discusses how automation is stealing functional movement from our daily lives, causing our bodies to age faster. It has named how weak our hands have grown as we type and talk to text. How elevators and smart watches and vehicles have stolen our steps. As things become more convenient, our bodies are paying the cost.
As a healing artist—one that does not perform art but uses and shares it as a healing modality—this influx of AI raises other issues for me. I believe in creative healing and the use of art as medicine for the mental and physical well-being of society. I believe that art connects people and gets them opening up about what matters, what hurts and what heals. What happens when we start shortcutting the process? When the strokes and sweeps become carefully articulated prompts? When people stop creating because AI does it better and faster? What we are missing is what creating does for the human spirit. What happens when people stop gathering in rooms together to stump, drum, play music and sing? What happens to the peace, collaboration and synergy that naturally exist in art and in the process of creating art? Does it dissolve?
Will our children be taught better prompt commands instead of being taught how to express emotions through movement, paint and prose? What will they lose when they stop making things with their hands, voices, bodies and hearts? What will happen to the generation that doesn’t know how to let pain leave their bodies through their pens? A generation that does not know how to alchemize pain through artistic expression will certainly feel it in the fabric of society. If there’s nothing new under the sun, with AI carefully and callously collecting all that exists, how could humans ever compete with it?
How do we stop feeding the beast our ideas, our gifts, and our talents or is it too late? How do we take our sharing of art off the screen and into places where we can enjoy it together? Mass digital sharing is rightfully called “viral” because it reveals the organism carrying the disease of loneliness and addiction: our screens. These screens infect us with a dangerous disease called functional isolation. Loneliness has never been good for the soul. It is a disease in which community is the only cure.
This MFP Voices opinion essay reflects the personal opinion of its author(s). The column does not necessarily represent the views of the Mississippi Free Press, its staff or board members. To submit an opinion for the MFP Voices section, send up to 1,200 words and sources fact-checking the included information to voices@mississippifreepress.org. We welcome a wide variety of viewpoints.
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