I created this image using AI and still I would’t consider this artwork. In my opinion I don’t believe that AI can create art, I think that there’s a difference between a mere image and human artwork. AI is able to create images based on human input and cannot produce anything without being asked to, at least for now. The difference between artwork created by humans and by AI revolves around how it’s made. Humans think of their ideas or find muses and then put in effort whether its painting, stitch work, or drawing. As Kirby Ferguson states in his video, “AI seems to exhibit creativity.” This is true, but said creativity is still based on a prompt given to it by humans. Humans create artwork with emotion, creating helps us feel which in turn adds depth to the work. This is untrue for AI platforms which can’t feel anything. With that being said I do believe AI could be used as a tool for humans to create art and honesty it already is. AI is very helpful when new ideas are needed or simply just a different perspective. It would be easy to incorporate AI into the creative process by asking for ideas of what to create or searching for certain color pallets and patterns. Ferguson says, “Machines have breached a sacred realm we thought was solely the domain of people.” This is somewhat true. On the other hand you must take into consideration that AI couldn’t be doing this without the assistance of people. Even when AI creates “art” it’s still the maker’s idea and prompt, not AI’s. This means at least in my eyes that it’s not AI’s artwork even if it created the piece. Another reason I believe AI can’t create real art is because AI has no intentions and no lived experience. Every artwork made by humans has a message, a perspective, a purpose, and a feeling they want to communicate with the viewers. AI has no intention, no inner word, no meaning it needs to convey. It simply produces images because a prompt told it to, not because it wants to say something. Without intention, there’s no true artistic expression so AI technically isn’t creating art it’s just piecing together ideas given to it. Following up on that, art is an emotional communication between other artists and viewers. Humans create art because they long to feel something. Whether it’s grief, love, fear, joy, or desire, humans create art in order to understand and express themselves. Another big factor to why AI can’t create real art is because it doesn’t understand the world. It is unable to comprehend ideas like symbolism, culture, humor, or my favorite, irony. It recognizes patterns by humans but not what anything actually means to us. With all these factors it’s clear to me that yes AI is a helpful tool for humans to use but it is unable to create authentic meaningful artwork.
I did not use generative AI to write this essay.