There are some topics of conversation I have to place limits on and abruptly change the subject before I get too upset and lose my mind. A.I. is one of those topics—especially as it relates to art. Years ago, I saw a meme about A.I. that said something to the effect of let’s let the robots do all the work while we lounge on chaises eating grapes and making art. This was funny to me then, but it’s become increasingly evident now that it’s the robots who will be making the art. What will we be doing, then? That’s extremely unclear. A.I. (aka Artificial Intelligence) seems to threaten nearly every line of work or lifestyle I can think of, but I won’t focus on all of them. I’ll just talk about art because that’s what I know best.
I think there will always be painting and sculpture and drawing in the ways we have known them for centuries. When people get upset about new technology in art, I often say that no new media has ever erased the old. Photography didn’t end painting, and the iPhone didn’t end photography. The printing press didn’t end drawing, nor did video art end theater. Etc, etc. I also think there will always be fine art and some desire for it, although I think the numbers of people appreciating it will steadily dwindle. What I’m more worried about is the creative class as a whole. A.I. threatens all types of writers—even Hollywood ones. It threatens graphic designers, actors, models, novelists, archivists and journalists. It threatens producers, illustrators and artisans. It threatens editors, architects and musical artists. There is no facet of creativity that A.I. doesn’t compromise. But where am I going with all this doom?
I don’t know, and maybe it’s time to wrap up this discussion because I can feel my blood in my veins right now, but I do want to pose a question. (Feel free to proffer your own answers or followup questions in the comments.) What does it say about our society that we would automate art first? Where are we headed and to what end? Maybe take a beat before you use ChatGPT to generate a photo of yourself as an astronaut. Every time you do something like this, as lighthearted as it may seem, you are actually training the computer to do what we can all already do with our imaginations or artistic skills. I thought technology was supposed to make the mundane easier, not make human creativity irrelevant. If there are going to be robots, let’s make them work for us. Let’s be the ones on chaises eating grapes and making art.
Great topic. The idea of Artificial Intelligence being used to create artwork just sounds so dystopic and lazy to me. I want more time to create artwork, not to hand that over to a robot. The art of creation is the reward. It is like a trip.. the travel is more fulfilling than the destination quite often.
Some art will survive regardless of this. There are more traditional art forms and styles that will be somewhat safe. People in those areas love the handmade, artisanal quality of the product made my hands and minds. The more discussed contemporary art world may become a victim of this, and may become even more homogenized.
It's a great topic. I think it is interesting how AI art always has that certain sheen to it. Alittle too calculated. Just like when I try to have AI write for me it just feels a bit teased.
There will always be a desire for the real human connection of art and friendship. It is good to remember that AI only exists on the computer/phones/gadgets. Maybe the tool of the computer is just coming into its full form as an object that can do equations very quickly, whether it be predicting the next line of code, pixel or word (which is all AI is).
It does definitely raise the stakes of how to stand out as an artist, or webcoder or even architect, which I am. In architecture the real threat is just in the schematic design phase right now. Potential clinets can simply enter in a pretty picutre of what they want their building to look like. But they will still need someone that knows how to build it.
Perhaps it'll slowly eat away at that process too in time. But from what I see in the industry, it will take a while. We have been touting the benefits of BIM for a bit over a decade. The idea is that you can make a 3D model of a building that is shared in the cloud and all participants will be able to simply use that to build the project. But in reality, the structural engineers or product manufacturers or field laborers do not like adapting to new technology and would much rather a 'dumb' pdf or better yet a paper drawing.
I guess what I am saying is, at the high level, this AI stuff will get some stuff done quickly, but hard work somehow always finds a way to still need to be done.
Awesome post, keep it up.