Brandon Sanderson Addresses AI Art...and the Art of Becoming as Art

I wanted to highlight a recent event, just five hours old, the release party for Brandon Sanderson’s Tailored Realities, and more specifically, the speech that he gave this year for the release at Dragonsteel Nexus.
I believe many authors on this platform can learn from Brandon’s example and his views on AI and art.

One of the best quotes:
"The most important thing to understand is that the process of creating art makes art of you, my friends. Let me repeat that. The book, the painting, the film script is not the only art. It's important, but in a way, it's a receipt. It's a diploma. The book you write, the painting you create, the music you compose is important and artistic, but it's also a mark of proof that you have done the work to learn because in the end of it all, you are the art." — Brandon Sanderson

I think this is an interesting point. I have looked into AI extensively. I'm about to start a YouTube channel for authors, teaching them how to use technology and specifically how to use and think about AI (like the Nerdy Novelist channel, but more conservative when it comes to AI ideology).

Sure, you can go ahead and build an automated AI workflow that outlines, creates plot beats, writes scenes, self-edits…all the way to publication. But why would you do that other than for financial gain?

There is most certainly a type of author who looks at the publishing industry and at building their career as a solely soulless thing. Purely economic. At that point, I would say you are wasting your time; there are much more efficient ways to support yourself through marketing and AI savvy compared to the slow crawl and uncertainty of the publishing industry.

But second, perhaps you guided it, but it is much more like using a ghostwriter to tell the stories you want to exist. At that point, you become a supervisor or a publisher rather than an author or direct artist. And I feel sorry for authors (AI ghostwriter managers) who are trying to make cool things and cool livings writing (guiding) books to fruition. You miss something. You miss the becoming.

There is a pain, as with any project, in the writing of a novel, of a short story, of a series of either. There are layers upon layers of introspection. I have written before that self-expression is but the beginning of art, not an ending to it. But in that beginning, in that self-expression, and in the ending of the tale, you see yourself reflected through the narrative and its themes. You suddenly understand yourself better, understand the thought itself better. Tempered through the tale. You do truly suffer in the telling. Even if you enjoyed it.

This may also be connected to modern life, where everything is either seeking to bring you toward pleasure or away from suffering. To a postpone the inevitable. This new idea of writing a book with AI is an attempt to, in essence, cut suffering from the process.

I will give these AI directors some credit. They are able to (now) and will continue to be able to write fun stories, good stories, written in acceptable prose compared to most authors. I guarantee that we will have companies that license IP and allow people to literally create crossover shows of their favorite franchises.

But the value decreases. When you can have anything and everything, the value of something drops, which is why I tend to have so much hope for authors and art in the coming age of AI. In the devaluing of "art" that can be anything becoming mundane, we will, in my opinion, see a rebound to hand-sewn art. To the kind of art that you disagree with and agree with and long for and wait for and hold in your hands in nice hardcovers and in scrappy, affordable paperbacks.

This was a bit of a ramble, I'm afraid. But one that, in the end, has let me understand. Perhaps not understand the truth of the matter, for I do not know if I am outlining it faithfully…but at least I now know how I see it.

What are your thoughts on the topic? Blessings!