A craft renaissance in the age of AI and quantum computing?

They say there are two certainties in life: death and taxes. However, I’d like to add a couple more to that small list. First is the belief in every generation that 'nobody wants to work anymore' and, secondly, the idea that the latest technology is going to ruin everything. Whilst people have been wrangling with the threat of new technology for millennia, in both professional and artistic settings, the next decade does promise to completely shake up what is possible at a rate never seen before.

So, what does this mean for crafts? Are they doomed to die out? A bygone of an era pre-virtual reality, pre-AI with no economic or cultural value. Naturally, I turned to AI to answer this question, I was keen to hear from both sides. I asked ChatGPT ‘do you think handmade crafts are dead in the age of AI?’. Here is the response:

“No, handmade crafts are far from dead in the age of AI. While the rise of artificial intelligence and automation has changed many industries, handmade crafts occupy a unique cultural, emotional, and economic niche that technology cannot fully replace. Here’s why handmade crafts are still alive and will likely thrive:

- The Enduring Value of Human Touch

- Handmade Crafts as Luxury and Art

- Handmade and Technology Can Coexist

- The Rise of Conscious Consumerism

- Crafting as a Counter-Movement”

Call me sensitive, but having a robot encourage you that craft is still relevant feels a touch condescending. Although, it’s also possible that ChatGPT is lying to throw us off the scent of the coming robot revolution. Paranoid dystopian visions aside, there are a couple points on this list which hold some weight.

The first is the value of the human touch, something that is incredibly important when it comes to craft. Technology is increasingly used to remove any sort of friction between you and your desired outcome. And it’s this obsession with convenience which denies something fundamental about human nature: we like doing hard things. Things which take time and skill are inherently more valuable; why is oak furniture more expensive than pine furniture? It’s self-evident that mass produced items are cheaper and, thus, more convenient; a plastic box will store your belongings equally as well as a woven basket at a fraction of the price. Functionally, a mug from Ikea will deliver liquid into your mouth just as efficiently as a handmade mug made by your friend on a pottery course. But which provides greater joy, which provides a deeper connection?

The process matters and weaving a basket in 2025 may not be economical but when we engage with traditional craft, we’re not only enjoying something mindful and physical, but we’re also connecting with tradition. We’re reaching through time and connecting with the generations gone before us, hands mimicking the dexterity and skill of our great, great, great grandmothers and grandfathers. Applying knowledge passed down and acknowledging our place in time and history. In 2025, convenience is peaking, but plot this steep incline on a graph and you will find equally steep increases in isolation, loneliness and anxiety. A coincidence perhaps.

The second argument ChatGPT makes which feels poignant is the idea of a counter-movement. Despite my reservations about technology, I am no luddite. AI and quantum computing’s integration into our lives is inevitable and imminent, but the impact will not be a binary bad or good. The processing power of a quantum computer is beyond our comprehension and the scientific and medical discoveries which will result from it promise to be immense. But this power also raises existential questions about work and job security, human fulfilment, it raises questions about art and threatens to accelerate our already insatiable appetite for convenience. As the boundaries between the real and digital world continue to blur, it is almost certain there will be a movement which hits back and embraces traditional, unique craft that bears the DNA of its maker. We’ve seen it throughout history, the arts and crafts movement of the late 19th century was a direct reaction to the mass production of the industrial revolution. Indeed, West Dean itself was built on the principles of protecting traditional craft at a time that Edward James feared these skills would be lost in the wake of the second world war.

Making, then, will not halt the inexorable march of technology, nor will it be the antidote to a poison but rather the yin to technology's yang. A way to connect, to communicate and be present in an attention economy where distraction is currency. A human’s desire to create is innate and whilst the tools at our disposal may evolve, acts of self-expression and self-discovery through creativity will always endure. For as long as this is true, West Dean will continue to be at the vanguard of this movement.

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