AI Vs. The Arts

Fallon talks about the controversy regarding AI-generated art.

AI vs. the arts

By: Fallon Rosebraugh

Slowly yet surely, AI is making its way into many aspects of people's lives. It is not only threatening to artists, but also writers and even musicians. Today, you don’t need skill to create artwork, a piece of writing, or even a song– any of these things can be easily generated by AI. However, in truth, AI art lacks the human authenticity and emotion that real art possesses.

Artists take pride in their abilities to express themselves, being able to convey their emotions into personal pieces of art. When contemplating the idea that AI can mimic or imitate these human abilities, it potentially diminishes the value of artistic process, and can be perceived as a threat to one's identity. Many artists agree that the soul of art lies within human emotion and touch, which AI-generated “art” utterly lacks. To create art, one must communicate complexity and depth, to tell a story that can be interpreted vastly. When confronted with the question: should art generated by artificial intelligence be considered real art?– the ultimate answer is no.

image from google

Image from The Harvard Gazette

As for writing, AI is capable of that, too. According to The Harvard Gazette, “AI is a superb mimic and quick learner and might easily write strong works in recognizable modes, and with linguistic experimentation if prompted, but — I think — will lack true insight and experience.” When looking at famous pieces of writing, they all possess passion, which AI can mimic, but never truly portray. Writers are extremely passionate creatures, along with artists, musicians, architects, cinematographers, performers– the list goes on. All in all, AI is not capable of speaking from experience, or portraying any sort of real emotion that humans embody.

With the inevitable uprising of AI, it leaves people wondering: will AI replace artists? While, as of now, the answer is no, the future is open to change. It is conveyed in many ways that the art world is worse off in the hands of generated AI. According to The University of Oxford, “Human agency in the creative process is never going away. Parts of the creative process can be automated in interesting ways using AI...but the creative decision-making which results in artworks cannot be replicated by current AI technology.” With this being stated, it is highly unlikely that AI will ever fully replace artists, due to the fact that it learns from and thrives off of human creativity.

The arts are beautiful because they come from people. When that aspect is removed, what is the point of “art” if it is not created by fellow individuals? It is impossible to truly relate to AI, to sympathize with AI, to connect with AI– art is diverse and holds power over people's emotions. That is something an AI-generated piece of artwork, music, or writing will never be fully capable of. In the end, AI is a system that has taken advantage of the arts and what it gives us, all for its own profit and misfortune.

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