Whoa, Vol. 2: Conversations on AI × Creativity AI Critics Should Do Some Moral Soul-Searching — Venkatesh Rao
22 snips
Oct 24, 2025 
Venkatesh Rao, a writer and consultant focused on technology and culture, explores how AI challenges traditional notions of authorship. He argues that AI should be seen as a medium for our shared cultural heritage rather than a threat to creativity. Rao discusses the illusion of effort in creative work, claiming that originality comes with risk. He also emphasizes the importance of playful experimentation with AI, likening it to Lego-building, and envisions a future where AI facilitates collaborative learning and creative contribution.
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Alignment As Industry Optics
- “Alignment” has become PR-speak and less present in serious technical conversation around AI.
- Venkatesh Rao says the rationalist-alignment corner influenced industry language but is now fading.
Use Disclosure To Teach Prompt Craft
- Stop segregating AI output purely as an ethics gesture; disclose when useful for communal learning and prompting skill-sharing.
- Rao plans to merge AI and non-AI streams once the medium matures and literacies improve.
Authorship Is Historically Contingent
- Authorship is a recent invention emerging around the 16th century with Montaigne and the personal essay.
- Rao argues we're reverting to a pre-Gutenberg culture treating texts as communal rather than strictly owned.
