People doing the robot dance are more interesting than robots doing the robot dance. (WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images)

AFP via Getty Images

There is a lot of talk these days about AI replacing humans at just about every task. I am, generally, skeptical of these claims even though I use AI a lot for my research as an astrophysicist. While I am profoundly impressed by what these tools can do, if you pay attention it becomes pretty clear that, ultimately, they are just a tool. There is no one “in there" who can recover even a fraction of what makes human beings unique.

Let me give you a case in point. Let me give you, if you can handle it, Atarashii Gakko!

I could tell you that Atarashii Gakko! is a Japanese band consisting of 4 girls wearing school uniforms playing everything from punk rock to hip-hop to jazz, all the while performing a kind of sharp, clean contemporary dance that would make the choreography department at Juilliard swoon. I could tell you that but it still would not describe what’s going on with these four artists. It’s best you watch the video below.

“Atarashii Gakko” means “Leaders of the New School” and their mission is to challenge the rigid social norms in Japan. For us, today, it’s their pure creativity that matters. There is no way an AI could come up with what Atarashii Gakko! are putting out. Sure you could tell your favorite AI “make me a video of 4 girls in Japanese sailor-fuku uniforms doing a punk rock song with modern dance choreography in a way that’s both threatening and cute”. But, that’s the point. You, a human being, would have to come up with that bizarre idea. Also, I doubt that your AI would come up with anything half as awesome as what Mizyu, Rin, Suzuka and Kanon produced through their collaboration.

There is a lot to be excited about as AI opens amazing frontiers in what human beings can do. There is also lot to be worried about as AI get shoved down everyone’s throats in the name of “productivity”.

One thing, however, is clear. Human creativity exceeds bounds and boundaries in ways AI will never be able to reproduce on its own. We can thank the women of Atarashii Gakko! for reminding us of just what makes being human in all its creativity so special.