AI AND ART

is beauty in the eye of the beholder?

By now, most students have heard or taken advantage of artificial intelligence, otherwise referred as AI, to assist in homework, cover letters, email drafts etc. Resumes or even love letters have seen added fluff thanks to the new technology. What once seemed like light years away has made its way onto everyday computers, and is definitely here to stay. It’s something out of a sci-fi movie, a cautionary tale to humanity about the dangers of relying on technology.

A.I. generated art has been around for years. But tools and programs released this year — with notable contributions from DALL-E 2, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion — have made it possible for amateurs and newbies to create complex, abstract or photorealistic works simply by typing a few words into a text box. Thoughts are translated into visuals without requiring an artistic hand. With such staggering advancements and results, a question of principle is raised. Is a career as a traditional artist dead?

Does AI-generated art hold less value than human crafted art, if any? Is resistance to the technology stemming from fear of the unknown? Is an idea worth more than how it is produced? Ultimately how does AI change art and culture?

For starters, it makes art far more accessible for those unable to purchase supplies, have access to a studio, or simply lack the experience and talent to physically create. This barrier to entry has been broken down for anyone with access to the internet. Historically, art has been perceived as a reflection of extremely talented people’s skills and thoughts -- spoken about and admired as though it is beyond the capabilities of the average person lacking seemingly supernatural gifts. This mentality has persisted despite those who have said otherwise. Maya Angelou once wrote, “Find some beautiful art and admire it, and realize that that was created by human beings just like you, no more human, no less.”

To be fair, there are folks in the art community that want art to be accessible. Their efforts are seen in places like community craft centers and art classes in public schools, but often are not taken seriously or funded appropriately because there is not much revenue in casual art. But the truth remains: art is for everyone. It just only becomes publicized when it holds monetary value or acts as a nuanced statement.

Art can exist for the sake of art, but does the art created by artificial intelligence put those who rely on creating it as a source of income at risk? The romanticized struggling artist trope may get a whole lot harder, but only if we as humans place value in the AI art. Capitalism depends on people placing value in ideas, items, and each other. I believe in the value of human art, and see it as more valuable than anything AI can produce. If there is a fear of losing jobs and appreciation for art, then it’s important for people to actively combat it or at least withstand the temptation, especially fiscally.

It’s clear that with AI, anyone can generate a piece of art. Ornate patterns, expressions of human emotion, and entire buildings can be generated in less than a minute. Even more controversial, AI can mimic exact artists’ styles, arguably diminishing the value of a signature style if reproduction is accessible to the public at no cost.

But before we chalk up everything produced with AI as robotic, underhanded art, let’s take a closer look at the process behind the finished product.

To create AI art, programmers write algorithms not to follow a set of rules, but to “learn” a specific aesthetic by analyzing thousands of images. The algorithm then tries to generate new images in adherence to the aesthetics it has learned upon the user’s request. Throughout this process, the person maintains an active hand: they’re involved in both the pre- and post-curation, and change the algorithm as needed to generate the desired outputs. Undeniably, there’s a human process behind the art that is produced and there is always an element of intent.

Perhaps AI will simply become another tool in the artist’s toolbox, no different than the thousands of other innovations once considered new and threatening tech. But human beings have always viewed the capability and potential of machines with suspicion at first. Ahmed Elgammal, a professor at the Department of Computer Science at Rutgers University compares this subject matter to that of photography over a century ago.

He explains that when photography was first invented in the early 19th century, it wasn’t considered art—folks argued a machine was doing much of the work, and they weren’t wrong. Eventually the resistant crowd relented, and now over a century later, photography has established itself as a fine art genre. Today, photographs are exhibited in museums and auctioned off at astronomical prices.

If history repeats itself (and it often does), AI’s capability to generate art will also have great implications for the art market. It could create new categories of art, similar to NFTs. Already, AIgenerated art is being sold both like physical paintings in exhibitions and in the crypto market as NFTs.

So will human art be replaced?

That seems unlikely -- because human emotions, feelings, thoughts and ideas are still unique and intangible things that computers can’t replicate.

Instead, I believe we can look forward to a world that sees collaboration between humans and AI to produce high-quality and complex art in various forms. Because it’s not just about the final image, and art never really has been. It’s about the creative process—one that involves an artist, an idea, and tools to explore new visual forms in revolutionary ways. It’s worth reminding ourselves that the value of art is only what we want it to be, so it’s up to us as consumers what we find value in. For me, it will always be art created with the human hand.

What is art if not simply defined by the eye of the beholder? Beauty and art has been and always will be subjected, which is what makes it so different from other disciplines and what unites people across all cultures and connects us to the past, helps us understand the present, and look forward to the future.

WRITTEN BY LEAH PRATLEY ILLUSTRATOR & DESIGNER ELLA NOTDURFT

Models

SIMONE BAEZA, MADDIE MIDGHALL & AIDAN NICO GRATTON