AI and its Impact on the Art World and the Lives of Artists

In recent years, artificial intelligence has entered the art world with full force, from designing promotional posters for Kung Fu Panda 4 to creating Kesha's album cover for ‘Delusional.’ While these AI-generated visuals are dazzling at first glance, they raise significant questions: What happens to human creativity when machines take over? Can AI truly replicate the emotion and originality that define art? As the debate rages on, artists worldwide are grappling with what this shift means for the future of their craft. In this article, we will explore the implications of AI art on the lives of artists.  

Theft 

 AI uses machine learning algorithms to analyze the existing art database of billions of images much like a visual art encyclopedia. It then generates an image based on this analysis to suit the word prompts inputted by the user. This means that it combines related images it finds to create one image. The images on this database are all originally generated by human artists who have not consented to their art being used in such a way. This raises serious questions of ownership and credit over art. As AI art is such a new creation it lacks moderation and legislation that would protect original artists and is similar to the issue of AI producing likenesses of real people. Many lawsuits have begun because artists' work is being used to train AI, against artists’ wishes. Artists have teamed together to create http://haveibeentrained.com, a website that tells artists if their art has been used to train AI algorithms. This has helped give some control back to artists. However, there is still very little they can do once they have discovered their art is being used by AI. 

Laziness

AI art is often accused of being lazy because it is so easy to create. It saves significant time and money asking AI to generate a poster or image for you rather than paying an artist to do the same thing. Humans cannot compete with the instant image output of these algorithms but equally, AI cannot compete with the dedication of artists. Part of why art is so special is because it takes so long to create. Art created by people is an outward expression of their vision, experiences, and emotions. The art is originally theirs. The ease of AI art means people are dismissing the value of artists' originality and time as art is increasingly seen as just another commodity. 

Appreciation for art 

Many real artists are being discredited for art they have spent hours creating. Some AI images are so hard to detect it is easy to accuse a real artist of using AI rather than creating a piece themselves. Some have forgotten the value of art and what it takes for artists to develop a style and artistic voice. Anyone can create incredible images just by typing a few words into an AI generator, so why take the time to create something yourself? Conversely, the rise in AI art has also increased the appreciation of original art. As AI art becomes more prevalent, original art becomes a refreshing sight. An artist spends years of dedication developing a voice that is unique to them, and it is something AI cannot replicate. 

Bad quality 

One of the main criticisms of AI art is its poor quality. AI art is renowned for spelling mistakes. For example, Kesha’s new album cover depicting hundreds of handbags painted with the album’s title ‘delusional’  is rife with spelling mistakes. When ‘Delusonal’, ‘delusonal’ and ‘dellusonal’ all appeared on these bags it was immediately obvious to fans that the cover was AI-generated.  AI art is also notorious for its inability to create images of hands. Some images give someone seven fingers while others only generate only three. These flaws would easily be corrected by human artists. Humans have the crucial ability to observe as they create, they know what a real hand does and what a real hand feels like so they would never make these simple mistakes. AI on the other hand produces an image without a real understanding of what it is representing. AI images tend to have this strange uncanny quality that makes them appear soulless and disturbing to many viewers. It looks boring and unoriginal because it is exactly that. It is a poor Frankenstein image created from original pieces.    

AI as a tool 

Although AI appears to threaten artists, some have decided to embrace it in their work. Rafael Lozano-Hemmer creates interactive installations with AI to generate images based on the viewers' movements and Memo Akten creates mesmerizing visual art using algorithms that mimic the behavior of natural systems. Another thing artists can do is use AI to generate references for them rather than original works. It is difficult to visualize very intricate compositions with unusual objects so it helps an artist to generate a reference image. This means AI forms a scaffolding on which artists can build their work. In all of these cases AI is not creating the art, humans are the ones generating the vision but use AI as a tool. 

The future of art 

The introduction of AI into the art world creates a scary time for artists everywhere as it continues to learn and develop. While there is a lot that AI can do there is a lot it is missing. AI can’t create original works of art or art with any emotional value. Whether AI art is art at all is a huge debate that will continue as long as AI exists. The fact remains that what makes human art special is that it is highly individual and the fact that it takes time and effort to make. It is the struggle and effort behind art that AI will never be able to fabricate and what makes human art special. As the debate over AI's role in art continues, the question remains—how can society balance technological innovation with the preservation of human creativity?