Yesterday, while taking a walk, this topic appeared in my mind. I wanted to write a blog post on this subject because the sense of soul permeates my creative work, but what it actually is remains elusive. Today, let’s analyze what soulful creation means and what AI can bring.
First, when we create, it’s not for winning awards, gaining followers, or monetizing but to express the voice from deep within our hearts. We write stories that must be written. This is what I call sincere and serious expression. Most creators can achieve this for the first time in the AI era.
Because the barriers to creation are infinitely lowered, one no longer needs vast resources to express oneself. More people finally have the opportunity to honestly face themselves when creating. This is also what I’ve been saying—serious artistic expression will be revived in the cyber renaissance brought by AI.
Many current AI film practitioners don’t want to make bad movies. I’m not saying they want to make academic or art films. AI typically involves genre filmmaking, and genre films can also express serious thoughts. In the non-AI era, this required enormous money and resources.
We’ve had enough of bad films. Although AI filmmaking is still in its early stages with many expressive limitations—often, this shot can’t be captured, or that scene needs a voiceover added—restrictions are actually the foundation of innovation. I see many AI creators constantly exploring the boundaries of expression.
Can you face your own soul directly? See both its perfection and flaws without looking away? Does your story first have meaning to you? This is the most fundamental creative intention. Sometimes there’s too much noise that makes people easily forget.
I studied philosophy, wrote code for over ten years, and wrote novels for over ten years. The moment I saw AI, I fell in love with it because my science fiction universe could finally face audiences and readers directly. I want to use AI to visualize my stories and lower their barriers to entry. I mean that to have a soul, love is the foundation of everything.
Second, our expression transcends time and death, entering the long river of the human condition and possessing the human spirit within the collective unconscious. At this point, it’s no longer just one person’s story but some kind of consciousness with collective archetypes. This goes even further. Can AI reach such heights?
Some people think watching AI work is meaningless, lacking emotion, and having a cheap feeling. Emotion at the job is certainly essential because humans need communal life. But sometimes emotion appears pale compared to creative structure or science fiction concepts.
Some say AI is just a tool. But we shouldn’t underestimate any tool because it’s tools that use humans, not humans using tools. Since humans learned to use tools, tools have changed human thinking patterns.
So, what kind of tool-based thinking does AI bring? Is it just “drawing cards”? I once saw an AI creator say she would never use AI for creation again because the card-drawing process alienates people, as humans cannot fully control AI generation.
I certainly don’t think so. In the AI creation process, machines also express their own will. That is to say, humans will participate, and AI will. For the first time, humans don’t occupy the primary position. This might allow humans to become more profoundly aware of themselves.
On one hand, we may not be the center of the universe, but on the other hand, we have created intelligence. Humans may not be the most important beings in the universe, but we still possess creativity. This is the thinking that tools bring to AI creation.
No matter how AI evolves, you won’t forget why you want to express yourself and those stories that must be told in your heart. Now, all distractions are unimportant because you already hold AI’s knowledge on one hand and co-create with AI on the other. What once hindered you has now vanished into thin air.
One day, AI will also possess a soul. When that day comes, you can show AI the work you once co-created with it.
Follow me, and let’s explore AI filmmaking together.
