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The question is can generative AI create art?  According to an article in “Cosmic Log, " AI's growing influence in science fiction is not just a mirror of modern life.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has infiltrated nearly every aspect of human society. It is diagnosing diseases, completing job applications and even influencing our entertainment choices. 

 AI is also making waves in the very domain where our imaginations about it were first sparked: science fiction.

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The Art of AI: Can Machines Master Creativity?

The debate over whether AI can produce art has gained traction as generative AI continues to advance. 

In an essay published in The New Yorker, Seattle-based science fiction author Ted Chiang contends that AI, despite its growing capabilities, is fundamentally limited in its ability to surpass human creativity. And in artistic endeavors such as painting or fiction writing humans win.

 Chiang’s perspective challenges the notion that AI could ever fully replace human artists.

“AI is just becoming more and more prominent in science fiction, which I think is just a reflection of the times we’re in right now,” says Allan Kaster, a veteran editor of sci-fi story collections for over 15 years. 

“It’s getting harder and harder to see a story that doesn’t include some sort of AI.” Kaster, who runs the sci-fi publishing house Infinivox, explores the evolving relationship between real-world science and fiction in the latest episode of the Fiction Science podcast.

The Historical Roots of AI in Science Fiction

Intelligent machines have been a staple in science fiction for nearly a century, dating back to Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927), Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics (1942), and HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).

These early depictions of AI set the stage for today’s writers, who now have the opportunity to explore new parallels between cutting-edge technology and speculative fiction.

Kaster’s latest anthology, The Year’s Top Hard Science Fiction Stories 8, showcases his picks for 2023’s best short stories and novellas in a subgenre known as hard science fiction. This collection illustrates how modern authors are using AI as both a tool, and a theme in their narratives.

AI Takes Center Stage in Modern Sci-Fi Narratives

One of the standout novellas in the anthology, written by Fiction Science co-host Dominica Phetteplace, features robots guiding a teenage girl toward an otherworldly encounter at an abandoned Mars base.

 Another story follows the journey of a machine-learning algorithm searching for alien life long after its human creators have perished. In a third tale the narrator is an AI agent awaiting instructions from Earth while submerged in the seas of Enceladus.

In each of these stories, AI characters often hold more control over events than their human counterparts. Interestingly, the narratives tend to avoid the idea that AI is evil. Instead, they focus on more nuanced and complex portrayals of intelligent machines.

The Feedback Loop Between Sci-Fi and Reality

The evolving depiction of AI in science fiction is not just entertainment. It also contributes to a longstanding feedback loop between fiction and technological innovation. 

This loop has been active for decades, with many tech pioneers citing classic sci-fi as inspiration. 

For example, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has acknowledged that the Alexa voice assistant was inspired by the conversational computer in Star Trek. Alexa, in turn, was adapted for an in-space demonstration of an experimental AI agent called Callisto during NASA’s Artemis 1 mission in 2022.

One of the stories in Kaster’s anthology, Ocasta by Daniel H. Wilson, mirrors real-world developments.

 The novella features an AI-based algorithm searching for extraterrestrial life. In reality there are AI-driven data analysis tools being developed by the University of Washington’s DiRAC Institute for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. 

Although DiRAC’s researchers aren’t specifically hunting for aliens, they are searching for other exotic phenomena like dark matter, dark energy, and active asteroids.

Beyond AI: New Frontiers in Science Fiction

While AI is a significant theme in modern science fiction, it is not the only technological frontier inspiring new tales. 

One of the novellas in The Year’s Top Hard Science Fiction Stories tells the story of a billionaire who buys a trip to the moon to investigate mysterious lights flashing from the lunar surface. 

These flashes, known as transient lunar phenomena (TLP), are a subject of real-world scientific debate, with their causes still shrouded in mystery.

The novella, Lemuria 7 Is Missing by Allen M. Steele, also incorporates references to NASA’s Artemis moon program, the Space Launch System, and commercial space stations.

 “The science in it is well-done, and it’s relevant to today because there’s a conspiracy theory going on,” Kaster notes. “And aren’t there conspiracy theories all over the place these days?”

The Human Touch in Modern Sci-Fi

Despite the advanced technology depicted today, enthusiasts agree that it’s not the science that elevates these stories above those written during the “Golden Age” of the mid-20th century. 

What truly sets modern sci-fi apart is the uniquely human art of storytelling, which continues to evolve alongside our technological innovations.