As modern technology grows increasingly complex, artificial intelligence has grown right alongside it, particularly in how it mimics human behaviors. With just a few words in a prompt, artificial intelligence can create human-like digital art. But considering that it’s made by a computer, some wonder if it’s even art.
While AI-generated art may look like the real deal, many feel there is a certain quality to the art that is missing.
“Yes, amazing images. Yes, sense of space, all the art ‘stuff’ is going on in there,” art teacher Mr. Fox said. “Do I think it’s art? I think it’s missing soul. And I think only humans have that depth of personal meaning or personal interest or their own experience that they bring to making images.”
The AI programs that generate the artwork are designed to use the internet’s vast collection of real art to analyze the shapes, techniques, styles, and moods behind each image. This analysis, known as machine learning, is a common practice in the AI industry. By using machine learning, the program can mimic anything it finds to a certain extent. This is why AI artwork looks the way it does, and why it is able to use real art techniques.
AI artwork is not all bad, however. Even though many AI programs are behind a paywall, the time investment required to get detailed artwork from the program is hundreds of times faster than what a traditional artist would need to create the artwork from scratch.
However, since the program generates images based on inferences from data, there is often massive room for error. Depending on the prompt, the program can make different photos in vastly different styles since its range of references is so diverse. If AI is given the same prompt repeatedly, it will create the same image repeatedly.
Since the program is just mimicking the styles and techniques of real artists, what it fails to capture is a unique quality in the message or thoughts behind the art: the soul.
Mr. Fox explains his thoughts through Bob Ross, a popular artist from the early 1990s. In many of Ross’ videos, he draws similar landscapes over and over, and while many agree that his artwork is visually appealing, it isn’t interesting. Mr. Fox followed by saying, “Yes, he cares about what he does… but he kind of manufactures things. And I think [for] an artist who is less interested in cranking out things and more interested in saying something or investigating something, the artwork is a little more unique and more interesting.”
Fifth Former Michael Wylie has a slightly different take.
“It’s like artificial worth,” Wylie said. For art to be valuable, he thinks it is “something I can look at for, like, a long time and just stare at and find out new things every time I look at it.”
Fifth Former Andrew Bradley thinks the artificiality of AI-generated artwork “takes away from the art.”
AI artwork is not all bad, however. Even though many AI programs are behind a paywall, the time investment required to get detailed artwork from the program is hundreds of times faster than what a traditional artist would need to create the artwork from scratch. It also enables just about anyone to create artwork without needing actual artistic experience.
In regards to the art industry, Wylie said, “I think it’s going to get weirder… I think there’s going to be a certain kind of people who are willing to buy it, but there’s a vast majority who are not going to think of it as art because you can just type in that same prompt and get something relatively similar to it.”
Both parties agree that even as AI technology improves and becomes more detailed and efficient, there will always be an appeal for human-made artwork. Portrait artists did lose much of their audience when the camera was invented, and the same pattern will be reflected as AI art becomes a more popular tool.
“New tools are always exciting,” Mr. Fox said. “But in the end, it’s just a tool.”
Many artists use software like Photoshop in order to save time and effort during a piece, but the majority of the artwork is done by the actual artist. AI artwork can be used as a base for inspiration, but even then it will not count as actual artwork until the artist is done with it.
“Everything kind of moves over on the bench and makes room for the new things,” Mr. Fox said. “But I don’t think humans will ever get bumped off the bench.”
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