Generative A.I., once an uncanny novelty, is now being used to create not only images and videos but entire “artists.” Its boosters claim that the technology is merely a tool to facilitate human creativity; the major use cases we’ve seen thus far—and the money being poured into these projects—tell a different story. On this episode of Critics at Large, Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss the output of Timbaland’s A.I. rapper TaTa Taktumi and the synthetic actress Tilly Norwood. They also look back at movies and television that imagined what our age of A.I. would look like, from “2001: A Space Odyssey” onward. “A.I. has been a source of fascination, of terror, of appeal,” Schwartz says. “It’s the human id in virtual form—at least in human-made art.”

Read, watch, and listen with the critics:

TaTa Taktumi’s “Glitch x Pulse”
Cardi B’s “Am I the Drama?”
“Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE” (2024)
“Dear Tilly Norwood,” by Betty Gilpin (The Hollywood Reporter)
Tilly Norwood’s Instagram account
“Holly Herndon’s Infinite Art,” by Anna Wiener (The New Yorker)
“2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968)
“The Morning Show” (2019—)
“Simone” (2002)
“Blade Runner” (1982)
“Ex Machina” (2014)
“The Man Who Sells Unsellable New York Apartments,” by Alexandra Schwartz (The New Yorker)
“The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” by Walter Benjamin
“The Death of the Author,” by Roland Barthes

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Critics at Large is a weekly discussion from The New Yorker which explores the latest trends in books, television, film, and more. Join us every Thursday as we make unexpected connections between classic texts and pop culture.

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