"We have now succeeded at the very small task of creating a machine that can make art, and must tackle the much larger and more complex task of creating a machine that can want to make art."

Well said. My guess is that machines will study human wanting as they have studied human speech. They will study it until they can mimic it.

As animals we come equipped with wanting. I like your distinction-based-on-animality. And we know how difficult it is to remove the wanting. Any heart-broken lover can testify to that. I wonder if the mimicking will grow so perfect that even the machine will forget it is mimicry...

I wrote a novel about a machine that longed for recognition as a being with rights and sued for them (https://www.amazon.com/Angels-Unawares-Novels-Catholic-Tantra/dp/B086PLB6S4/ref=sr_1_1?crid=SO886Q1SB5DN&keywords=angels+unawares%2C+Birrell+Walsh&qid=1674804264&sprefix=angels+unawares%2C+birrell+walsh%2Caps%2C112&sr=8-1) but somehow did not face the issue you have brought up.