This essay is telescopic. It can shrink or expand, depending on how much attention you are willing to give.
This is an AI-generated version (103 words, not yet human-reviewed). Show other sizes.

Sculptors And Gardeners

  • Unleash creative power through two core methods: "gardening" (additive generation) or "sculpting" (subtractive refinement).
  • Gardening births abundant options from fertile ground; sculpting chisels raw material to its essential, powerful form.
  • Both hinge on acute perception—selecting promising growth or cutting needless excess—and their synergy elevates artistry.
  • Current LLMs excel at token-level "gardening" but lack the crucial "sculpting" capability to distill and potentize.
  • Teach LLMs to "sculpt": train them to extract poetry from prose, like digital blackout artists unearthing hidden gems.
  • Future creative AI will masterfully alternate: first "gardening" diverse ideas, then "sculpting" each line to its resonant core.

Original published: May 10, 2025