AI And Art

It’s too late to put the Genie back in the bottle, AI is here to stay. It’s been with us since the fifties and its effects are already felt in healthcare, education, medical, and financial industries. The pace at which AI is advancing now is however nothing short of astonishing.

In this article I will discuss some of my thoughts on AI and how it will affect us as artists.

AI, as it affects the art world is a hot topic, fanned by modern AI models with text-to-image capability.

Instead of running around like a headless chicken waiting for the sky to fall, artists should take comfort from history.

When photography emerged on the scene in the 1820s, artists feared and hated the new technology. They saw it replacing them and robbing them of an income as “anyone could do it”.

Hindsight shows this didn’t happen. (In an ironic twist, the hyper-realism style which mimics this technology is a popular art form.)

Why it didn’t happen is because the human qualities of originality, intention, emotion, and expression are essential ingredients in a work of art.

As with all technology, human intent makes the difference – the technology itself is not inherently good or bad – it just is.

AI, like photography, isn’t an art form in itself – it’s a tool that the artist uses as a basis into which they infuse the essential human qualities to extract their visualization of an artwork.

Although the camera, or AI, may be used to produce a work of art, there must also be a connection between the artist and the tool used to create the artwork.

It is true that AI has been trained on as much info as possible. This includes artwork – possibly even your artworks if they have been posted on a platform visible to the public.

Does that mean the artworks it creates or the ideas it comes up with are all stolen and thus invalid, immoral and should be condemned to the bin?

In my opinion, absolutely not. If that were the case, then so should all our artworks, and every other original idea. Let me explain.

No artwork is created purely from nothing, it is always influenced by something you previously saw, did, learned or experienced. Either directly or indirectly.

We learn from others using publicly available info. If the info is not publicly available, you may even decide to pay for access to that info.

We join forums, art groups, Facebook groups, look at artwork in Pinterest, watch Youtube videos and possibly even pay to access lessons on websites like this one. All this info helps us formulate ideas for our artworks.

We take the things that we have seen, experienced and learned then mash it together to create something new.

AI has been modelled off the human way of learning.

All AI does is take what you are asking it to do along what it has learned and predicts it all together to form the output it thinks you are looking for. Doesn’t that sound familiar? We also take inspiration and input from others when creating our artworks.

Unless the output that we (or the AI) create is exactly like what we learned, then we have not stolen anything, just taken inspiration.

For example, there have been countless Mona Lisa inspired artworks created by artists over the years. Some look very similar, others look very different. Are these derivatives stolen or just the artist’s interpretation of the Mona Lisa?

AI works with prompts and predictions. When you ask it something (prompt), it predicts what the most probable output is that you require.

The more concise instructions you give it, the more accurately it can predict your required output.

If you ask AI to create you a Mona Lisa inspired artwork, it will probably be similar to the original as it has no further instructions on what other inspirations to draw from.

If however you give it more info, eg. tell it to create you a Pop Art version of the Mona Lisa, then it’s “creativity” will align better with your vision. The result will be a more original output, but still only what you asked for.

Till now, creativity was thought of as something exclusively human. This is no longer the case. With AI able to churn out creative ideas and artworks instantaneously, the nature of creativity is under review.

Creativity is no longer the exclusive property of the artist. It is available to the masses for free.

Machines are now considered by some as capable of producing “better” art than humans, just as photographs were once considered “better” than drawings.

History teaches that the definition of “better” is subjective and constantly changing, especially when it comes to art.

For one artist creativity may define one artwork as better than another. For another technical application of the techniques may be their criteria for judging one artwork better than another.

With AI now freely available, these criteria are bound to shift.

What is certain though is that one person’s criteria for what “better” is, will always be different to the next person. There is no possibility for a consensus – and why should there be. We are all individuals after all.

William Morris, who lived from 1834 to 1896, began the Arts and Crafts movement in response to the mechanization of the industrial era.

He believed machines were making people less creative and removing skill from the manufacturing process.

The Arts and Craft movement has never really ended. Even today handmade items from soaps to Ferraris seem preferable over technologically excellent items produced in bulk and widely available.

I think you will agree that the technology from the 1890’s certainly didn’t put a damper on human creativity whatsoever. We are if anything, more creative today than ever. I see no reason for that to change.

We often fall into the trap of thinking that we’ll always want the same things that we want now. As time passed and things progress, only the “how” of getting there will change.

This false belief is known as the “history illusion” where people admit their tastes have changed but are adamant they won’t change in the future.

This has never been the case and will not ever be the case. As humans we are constantly changing, evolving and improving. What is good enough today, isn’t good enough tomorrow. We soon look back and wonder how we could have ever thought it was.

Technology makes what was once difficult, easy and commonplace.

Changes to our culture make what we consider beautiful today be seen as terrible tomorrow and vice versa.

It’s in our DNA, we can’t help ourselves, it’s just the way we are.

To try and ignore, avoid or disavow these changes is only putting yourself at a disadvantage.

AI is our camera obscura moment. We can choose to fight it or choose to embrace it. Like Vermeer & Rembrandt I choose to embrace new technology.

I don’t think so at all. The art market will surely change now, but not so much for the original artist.

I think that the market for art prints will become a lot more saturated and the profit margins will decline steeply.

The reason for this is that anybody can now use AI to create any image they want, take it to the local print shop and have it printed.

Etsy print on demand sellers are already experiencing this with many shops now opening filled with hundreds of AI art prints.

When this “democratisation” of a once scarce resource happens, history tells us that the buyers with the big money turn their back on this technology. They don’t want anything that is mass produced, they prefer handmade, one of a kind items that are more difficult to make.

As AI and machines take over many of the skills and jobs currently done by humans, narrowing the gap between man and machine, art is going to become more important to society.

Think back to the Covid pandemic when we were all holed up indoors with nowhere to go. Art exploded. Even people who had previously has no interest in art suddenly found they enjoyed art.

As society has less work to do, they will look to occupy themselves with more recreational, creative and soul searching endeavours.

The gap between man-made and machine-made art will increase; paradoxically while the gap in technology between man and machine narrows, and quality man-made art will become more precious by comparison.

It’ll become more important for artists to involve themselves in every aspect of their creation. Contracting part of the artwork out to assistants to meet demand, will become a no-no.

Customers will want proof that you created the artwork by hand. Getting out and about meeting your buyers, creating in public and other face to face personal interactions with the artist will be required as proof that the artworks you create are indeed your handywork.

It’s unlikely that AI will ever take the place of the artist. By joining exclusively human traits like vision, emotion and life experience, artists will not just survive, but thrive.

There’s no doubt that AI is reshaping the way art is created, marketed, and appreciated.

The effects of AI on artists could be both positive and negative depending on the willingness of the artist to embrace change, recognize the new opportunities that AI offers, adapt to using new tools and society’s changing attitude to AI art.

And finally – AI is not compulsory – it is your choice whether you use it or not.

Let me know your thoughts on AI and how it is going to affect artists below.

In the next article I will show you how you can use AI to your advantage to become a better artist.