Creativity in the Age of Machines

On 60 Minutes, Bill Whitaker asked Giacomo Massari of LITIX (a company using robots to carve marble sculptures) what many are thinking:

“If you have a robot doing 99% of the work, where’s the artistry?”

Massari didn’t blink:

“In the idea, how you program the machine. It’s a work of art because it’s an artistic approach. You need to have a sculptural background to program the machine in the way that you want.”

Translation: the chisel is code. The artist is still here. She just speaks Python.

This is the new creative battleground. As AI and automation steamroll into traditionally “human” domains, we have two choices: evolve, or complain from the cheap seats. The future of creativity isn’t about resisting the machine. It’s about learning how to direct it.

We’re not being replaced by AI. We’re being replaced by people who know how to work with it.

Whitaker, B. (2024) Robots chisel out the future of sculpture as some artists embrace change and others push back. 60 Minutes, CBS News. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VlkMuo2Zcs (Accessed: 4 April 2025).