Image from Nishika Datla.
Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly prevalent in society today. Every website and app seems to have an AI chatbot feature, and with accessible AI models like Chat GPT and Midjourney, AI can do anything from answering the most basic query to generating a Van Gogh masterpiece.
The use of AI in art specifically has become a major controversy. There are many purposes of art, but one thing they have in common is the expression of emotion. However, AI, with its logic and algorithms, represents the stark opposite.
Some examples of the use of AI in art are to design book covers and advertisements, to edit photos, to create entertaining social media content, and even to create content in animation and movies. One recent instance was Drake’s “Taylor Made Freestyle,” which featured AI vocals that were meant to mimic Tupac and Snoop Dogg. This song was deleted from social media due to legal action by Tupac’s estate, which shows the sketchy legality of selling AI art, especially because AI art models use existing artwork to generate new art in similar styles. Another recent example was the Oscar-winning movie The Brutalist. AI was used to give Adrien Brody’s character a more accurate Hungarian accent. While the use of AI made the Hungarian accent and the representation more authentic, some critics were enraged by this because it cheapens the performance. Adrien Brody won the Academy Award for his performance, and it begs the question of whether or not AI should be used as a tool in art.
Another critique of using AI for art is the loss of creativity and humanity that comes with it. Because of AI, people may eventually lose their skills and craftsmanship, and future generations may not put in the effort to learn. As a society we may lose certain techniques forever. Some argue that using AI is simply lazy and lessens the integrity and value of art. AI provides a shortcut. It simplifies the artistic process. Hours of effort can be reduced to mere seconds. This may seem like a good thing because time is valuable, and any time saved is a net benefit. However, using AI to save time makes professional artists obsolete. Graphic designers, animators, musicians, and more will potentially lose their jobs if AI use becomes widespread.
At the same time, the use of AI, especially by corporations, will never go away, so artists might as well learn how to make it work for them. For example, many artists use AI to storyboard or make drafts of their work to save on time, but ultimately use their own art skills and techniques to make their final piece. Still, if AI is used to make even a part of an artwork it should at least be disclosed.
To play the devil’s advocate, maybe the things that are being lost to AI weren’t valuable in the first place. Artists often have to compromise their style or morals to make vapid art for advertisements or companies in order to make a living. Very few artists are able to have a sustainable lifestyle purely by making what they enjoy. Art has become extremely commodified and less creative for the sake of making a sellable product. People don’t actually want to pay the high price of handmade goods or art made by real people. AI art is simply cheaper and can appear the same as man-made work. The trajectory of AI will kill creative jobs and lead to a loss of technical skills, but maybe we don’t actually need most of these jobs as a society. AI can make all the slop that corporations want instead of real people. AI could even increase creativity because it allows those without technical art skills to let their visions and imagination come to life.
Decades in the future, art may become just a hobby, but the reality is that truly great art will never be lost. When art is made by humans with unique stories they inherently have more meaning than something a computer fabricated. Although AI use is unlikely to decline and the role of creatives may diminish, the admiration we have as a society for real artists and skills will never go away.