In the era of the internet, anything can be made possible if you have two thumbs and a dream. This is especially true when considering the new generation of artists - computers. AI (artificial intelligence) has infiltrated nearly every corner of the internet and its finally become time for the art world to become indoctrinated. The creation of AI art is becoming more readily available through filters on TikTok and websites online like DALL-E 2, Deep Dream Generator, and Artbreeder. The art world is undoubtedly divided on whether or not AI art is “art”. As it blurs the line between who the true creator of the piece is. With the simple press of a button, an AI system can spit out any image you tell it to and in any art style. This art is typically created by using algorithms that allow a computer to learn how to create art autonomously. It's always a guessing game of if the computer will spit out the right kind of illustration. Most of the time these artworks can be beautiful or even thought-provoking, but seem to lack the emotional intelligence most man-made artworks provide. When instructed to make these images, there are specific parameters the computer is told to follow and when humans make art these parameters are but mere suggestions. I see AI art as a fun way to see what you might have looked like as a rococo-style noble or perhaps what your past life may have looked like, but the question I have is whether or not AI art will become a threat to the art world.
I have come across countless images online of festivals or parties that look to have taken place about 20 or more years ago, however, these parties never happened. It doesn’t take more than about 10 minutes on TikTok to find someone using an AI filter to see what their cause of death might have looked like in a past life or “expand” popular album covers. The proliferating trend of computer-generated art is swallowing the internet before my very eyes. The traditional art market is averaged to be worth about $64 billion. AI art has every chance to sway this number as these computer programs can produce art even faster if not better than humans can by hand. As a result, could the demand for human-made artwork plummet? I’m anticipating a resurgence of human-made work as it would be a hot commodity to have a handmade work of art hanging on the wall. In the same way, record players and cassette tapes are making their rounds, the art world will catch on eventually.
Concerned individuals have taken to Twitter to comment “We’re watching the death of artistry unfold before our eyes — if creative jobs aren’t safe from machines, then even high-skilled jobs are in danger of becoming obsolete,”. I see this induction of AI-generated art as the second coming of digital art in the 1960s. Previously, art was produced primarily on physical mediums such as canvas, paper, or sculpture. Digital art flipped the narrative by exploring audio and visual mediums, through digital art the bridge between artists and scientists was built. Digital art revolutionized the way art was consumed, distributed, and produced. In the years following, digital art was made readily available through the creation of mobile cell phones. Could digital art qualify to be its own art movement? And where does AI art fit into it?
In the Renaissance period, the rediscovery of classical philosophy, literature, and art was at its all-time high. Portraits were made in an effort to legitimize status, wealth, and power. Today beauty is a secondary form of wealth, by inserting our own golden hour selfies into AI art generators, the modernized way to legitimize our place in society can be born. Could this need for personalized portraits come from a place of narcissism? Or the simple need to legitimize ourselves in society, to show the world “I can be beautiful too!”.
AI is a new technology, and technology is an apparent sign of the times. It is unclear whether or not the trend of AI-generated art is simply a fad or if it's here to stay. The collaboration between humans and AI has made art possible that would not have been possible otherwise. While there is a veil of uncertainty surrounding the blooming world of computers, there is a realm of possibility.
You are awesome
ReplyDelete