Recently, I was out to dinner with a friend who owns a creative retail business. Soon in, she exclaimed how she had hired a marketing firm to do all of her marketing. She went on to say she didn’t want to think about it or deal with the public and how relieved she was. My first question to her was, “do they use AI”? Without missing a beat, she said, “it’s all AI”.
Since that night, something didn’t sit right in me and made me downright sad. Now, I know there are many good things to come out of AI as well, such as medical advances. But there is also the founder of AI telling 60 Minutes that he is worried about an existential threat to humans. That we are playing with fire because we just don’t know enough yet. But, back to that night. And about why it bothered me as an artist and an entrepreneur for over 36 years here at Sweet Bird.
And then it hit me. Artificial Intelligence goes against everything I strive for, not just as a full-time artist, but as a human being. So, I have a new movement to announce:
My version of AI: ARTIST INTUITION.
Artificial intelligence is about collecting massive amounts of data from a computer. Artist’s intuition is more about ‘feeling’ than ‘thinking’. Artificial intelligence in her case was more about ‘dollars’ than ‘sense’. Artist Intuition is more about ‘purpose’ and not as much ‘product’. Let’s face it, we don’t need another widget, we need more compassion from each other in this spiritual crisis of disconnection. Call me old fashioned, but I’ll take the dirt road home, thank you very much.
Talking with as many people as possible like we used to do before cell phones. Chatting with you from everything about your day to the details of your loved one for whom I’m often making a memorial piece.
Artificial intelligence will never know how to feel genuinely. That is why it is called “Artificial”. It won’t sense those tears welling up in a grandmother that just lost her baby grandson that didn’t make it out of the hospital. Artificial intelligence will never be able to give the most heartfelt embrace as she sobbed in my studio when there were no words. Only feeling.
Which brings me to Africa. I actually leave in a day by the time you read this. I have a mission and a sense of purpose to help create a women’s arts foundation to help export their beautiful art in hopes of a much more sustainable living for these strong, hardworking and beautiful women. Sure, I could do most of my research over the internet, but that’s only data, only thinking, only facts.
So, I have this motto:
“If You Don’t Go, You Don’t See”.
And by that I know I need to take in all I see, all I hear, taste and smell. And most of all, feel. Raw. Unfiltered. Genuine. Much like my Wearable Shrines of Intention, I want to articulate their vision. Help them set a course. To stand in what they hold sacred. To meet those that live by truth and authenticity in the heartbreaking pain of not having much more than the clothes on their backs or clean water to drink. I want to go and I want to believe with my whole heart that I am making a difference. That is authentic power. And that is the heart of a caring company.
You have a ‘true north’, and that is an Artist’s Intuition, even if you’re an accountant. Your authentic power urges you to go inside. To develop emotional awareness. To go inward and choose consciously.
I believe we’re all here to discover our authenticity, and that is that we are all here for a purpose. That a person’s satisfaction is finding that purpose that’s larger than themselves. To do something that’s hard to outsource and hard to automate. And that comes from ‘feeling’ and less ‘thinking’. To do something that sort of scares the pants off us, but we know we have to do it.
My journey this trip and mission is about heartwarming friendship. What it means to be a sister on this fragile planet at this critical time. For humans and for the wildlife. I desire more communication with other women. In that way, I know they will give back a hundred fold. To express what I am here to do. Not what some computer generated algorithm says I ‘should’ do.
Forever inspire yourself, honor your spirit, give love like there’s no tomorrow and feel your feelings. That is where your true purpose lies.
See you on the other side of the earth soon.
Nancy + Team Sweet Bird