Painting Is a Program, Poetry Is a Prompt: Rethinking AI's Role

“Painting” has been a key vehicle for transmitting Western civilization, whereas in China this role has been taken over by “poetry.”

Painting is like a program, while poetry is more like a continually evolving set of requirements that must be aligned with over time.

Perhaps world models are meant for writing programs, while large language models are meant for describing the world. Perhaps we shouldn’t make AI work for humans at all, but instead give it a space where it can create and explore freely.