AI and Art: Style, Simulation, and the Loss of Soul
Introduction
To really talk about the issues with AI generated “art†means going for a deep dive and reflecting on why art matters at all. Here’s a brief look at the pros and cons.
The positives:
-Anyone who learns the terminology can have beautiful images created for them.
-Skilled artists can use AI to augment their own work and ideas
The negatives:
-Programs pull from existing artist’s work without their consent.
-Work for artists and illustrators goes to cheaper, faster programs instead.
-The richness of discovery that comes with the process of making art is gone.
-Aspiring artists are discouraged from putting in the effort to find their own voice.
-The overall integrity of the experience we have with art falls apart.
In general I’m much more aligned with being PRO something rather than ANTI something. What I have to say about AI and art falls into the ANTI camp because I’m PRO humanity.
There’s a lot of artists railing against AI from a moral place, saying that it has an unfair advantage. I get that, but sadly in a capitalist society “fair†is irrelevant. We go towards whatever’s easier to meet our needs in the moment. Unfortunately a lot of people will use these programs anyway.
Another major rallying point is that the programs “scrape†the internet for features found on existing artist’s work. These programs not create out of nothing. They swipe faces, places, feet, and fins without the original creator’s permission. Scraping is specific enough that laws can be passed in the future to mitigate it. I fully support those who are suiting up and heading to Washington to make legislation happen. The music industry figured their version of this out already, putting in place agreements and fees sampling. I don’t know if my work is used by these programs or not. But I see this as a bigger concern than whether or not my own paintings are being used.
I’m here to speak about art, humanity, and the balance we need to find with technology 🌟
To be continued…