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The topic of Artificial intelligence (“AI”) is everywhere we turn today. It’s in our workplaces, as businesses and entire industries grapple with how to leverage or defend against its arrival. It’s in our personal lives, as our social and everyday technology tools choose and present information to us using AI. And it’s in the mainstream news, in the form of both cautionary tales and opportunistic predictions. It was the most used buzzword in tech circles in 2024.
AI in Art The art world is no different, which raises the question about whether AI has a place in the art community and whether it should be viewed as an imposter, disrupter or enabler.
As an artist who also happens to work full time in the technology space, I definitely have an opinion, but let’s hold that thought.
There are a few points worth exploring here. Perhaps the biggest debate is whether visual images created by AI should be considered art at all. To answer this, it’s vital we first put a stake in the ground on what exactly is art. Defining Art Today Oxford Dictionary tells us that art is “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.”
That’s a lot to take in, but two words which jump out from this definition are expression, that art comes from the heart and mind of its creator to express something; and appreciation, that it's pleasing to others.
In that context, AI created art can certainly be appreciated as beautiful or evocative. It’s newfound popularity illustrates that there are plenty of art enthusiasts who love it. As another data point, though partly due to its novelty, a piece produced by the AI powered robot, Ai-Da, auctioned for $1M last November. The point is, somebody obviously appreciates it.
The expression part of art is more difficult to pin down. The computer programmers who develop AI enabled software which make AI art even possible, aren’t “expressing” per se.
These software programs utilize Large Language Models (“LLM’s”) that are scanning everything that’s ever been put on the internet to create a library of sorts. This library gives the AI system its basis from which to work. Other than coding software, the human part of the process isn’t really creating, it’s programming, albeit advanced and innovative programming. Further, content creators who take advantage of these systems do so by entering a request, specific or general, and a finished product comes back. It’s a reach to consider all of that as creative expression.
Copyright Protection In a related controversy, the LLM’s that drive AI sourced art are out scouring the online world for images of art that were previously created by human artists. It has been argued that AI’s use of other creators’ works as fodder for something new violates their copyright protections.
As background, creative works generally are automatically the copyright property of their creator, without any need for legal filing, for the creators’ lifetime plus an additional 70 years. An open letter was submitted to Sotheby’s recently asking that an art auction dedicated to AI works be cancelled for this reason. It’s safe to say that this question is far from settled.
AI Advantages Nonetheless, not every use of AI in art is controversial. Many painters, myself included, work from photographs. When used as a creative inspiration, an AI generated image serves the same purpose as any other image, an input from which an artist creates.
For commercial artists, AI can quickly and efficiently offer up sample ideas or concepts from which clients can select, making an artist’s pre-work measurably faster.
AI: Imposter, Disrupter, or Enabler?
So getting back to the initial question, is AI an imposter, a disrupter or enabler to the world of art? To answer, perhaps we can lean on the age old principle that beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. Meaning that, depending on your perspective, it’s any of these things.
Is AI art really art in the traditional sense? This artist votes no. But, it is still worthy of our appreciation in a context and aesthetic class of its own.
Joe Christenson https://fineartamerica. com/art/christenson Instagram: @joedchristenson
