Casey Neistat made a video with ChatGPT-4. It’s bad. He says so himself in the video, and then rants about AI art having no soul.
The video has no soul because Casey does not put any sould into the AI, because he does not know how to prompt.
AI is a tool. Prompting is an artform.
If you gave Neistat’s camera to a non-filmmaker, their photos would “have no soul,” because they would just take pictures of whatever is in front of them with zero composition or lighting. In order to make the camera - a digital tool - display “soul,” you have to combine artistic vision with technical knowledge. Based on the intro, it looks like Neistat uses neither, and just tells ChatGPT-4 “write me a script.”
How would we create a better Casey Neistat vlog with AI?
Break Your Prompts Into Steps
Instead of using one prompt for the whole video, break it into steps.
Compare the singular prompt “write me a video” to these steps:
Generate 10 video ideas for a Casey Neistat vlog. Make them [details]
Write an outline for idea number [best on list] including [details]
Write scene one from that outline, and make it feel [long description]
Rewrite that scene, but [notes]
Generate 10 visual concepts or styles we could use to shoot that scene
Generate a shotlist that fits that style [best on list] using [script]
See the difference? Instead of telling the AI “write a script” we take it through the full creative process a human would.
I did step one on that list in ChatGPT-4. Here were the results:
All of those would be better than the video Neistat shot. Of course, some might not be feasible. This is where it helps to…
Give The AI Notes
When you work with human filmmakers, you give them notes or direction. Based on what I saw from Neistat’s video, he doesn’t direct AI. How good is the typical writer, actor, or filmmaker without any direction or notes from their editor, director, or client? This is the equivalent of hiring a freelancer and just saying “make me a video.”
Here are a few notes you could give the AI once you’ve got some ideas you like.
Flesh that idea out. ChatGPT ideas are often vague. For example, one of the above ideas says “dedicate your day to a cause you support.” From there you could prompt “name 10 causes worthy of dedicating that video to” or “list 10 organizations we could partner with on a video like that.” If inspired, you could also say “I care about this cause. Generate 10 original ideas that would be wildly entertaining while drawing attention to that cause.
Make it feasible. Many AI ideas might be difficult to pull off. For example, one suggests partnering with Space X to do a vlog in space. Great concept, but you might not be able to arrange that. You could ask the AI to give you ideas how to meet Space X reps or write a message to them. You could also prompt “we tried to contact them and failed. Where should the video go from there?” If you get it, prompt “what are 10 ideas we should shoot while in space.” You could also ask the AI how to pull of it’s ideas, like how to do a 24-hour skateboard marathon safely or build a drone-hammock.
Ask for revisions. When you work with human freelancers, most ask for revisions. With humans, those cost money and time. With AI, they do not. You can beat it with a stick and ask for as many versions as you want. Sometimes I will even prompt “that was bad. Do it better.” A good trick is to ask it to generate options. “Give us 10 ways we could shoot this video.” Eventually, it’ll run out of normal ideas and deliver something inspired. If Neistat had just prompted “this sucks, make it better” when he got the script he shot, it’d have been better.
Pour Your Soul Into The Prompts
Neistat’s biggest complaint is that AI art “lacks soul.”
It’s true. AI has no soul. You know what else doesn’t? Your camera. Yet people still somehow take soulful pictures. How? They put their soul into their art.
Let me say something important:
AI has no soul so you must give it yours.
If you don’t put soul into the prompt, you won’t get soul out. Same true of any artform. When I do AI poetry, I’ll write page-long prompts that read like I’m having a mental breakdown or making a diary entry, where I’ll talk about every feeling or moment from an important moment in my life. The AI will then organize that raw human soul into rhyming iambic pentameter or whatever poetry form I’ve asked it to. The AI is good at rhyme and rhythm. I’m not. But with it as a tool, I can give my soul better expression.
Likewise, Casey Neistat is probably bad at drawing, but with the camera he can express himself visually. The camera is a tool that gives his soul better expression. AI could be too if he is willing to learn it as an artform.
Last Thoughts
I find the entire “AI art has no soul” argument tedious and one that we will look back on as quaint, the same way arguments against electronic music not being “real music” or YouTube videos not being “real movies” seem now.
I like when humans express their soul through art, and AI art is an incredible tool for that. At some point, someone will make such soulful art with this tool that it will put this whole argument to rest. Maybe it will be me. But you’ll never know unless you subscribe: