With the rise of artificial intelligence in modern society, it has become increasingly common to use AI softwares in all facets of everyday life. Even from a quick Google search, people are exposed to dozens of AI generated summaries and images. However, the arrival of AI technology isn’t always accepted among certain circles. In particular, there has been significant public outcry caused by the use of artificial intelligence in creative communities and industries such as fine arts, writing, and animation. This raises the question: does artificial intelligence have a place in art? The goal of this article is to explore how art students at Centaurus would respond to this popular debate.
Most students, when asked about their opinions on the use of artificial intelligence as an artistic medium, strayed towards the negative. A common response was that AI art had a harmful effect on those who make art as their career, resulting in artists losing their jobs and failing to make a living wage for the sake of cost and efficiency. Centaurus senior Jasmine Stork argues, “I don’t like it…I have heard from so many artists about how their livelihoods are being stripped because of this new tool which is built off of artists’ work without their consent. I’m scared for my future as an artist, because AI art gets better by the day, and is getting harder to distinguish from real art.” As artificial intelligence learns and grows, it is becoming more and more difficult to pick out from human creations. Oftentimes, particularly on social media platforms, AI art will go without disclaimer, leading people to believe that it was created by a person rather than a machine. This can often feel deceptive to viewers and hurt engagement on art pieces, like how junior Elle Peckham expresses, “I’m pretty gullible, so whenever I see [artwork] and then in the comments, it’s like, ‘yeah, cool art, wait this is AI’, I feel cheated
.”
However, the issues behind AI generated art don’t only stem from an economic or recognition standpoint. Another major concern was about the time and effort that is put into a work of art compared to artificial intelligence. AI’s ability to generate a complete image in a near instant can strip art of the feeling and humanity behind a piece that comes from those hours spent working on each detail present in human-made works of art. Arwen Heggestad, a senior at Centaurus, believes that this humanity is a key component in creating true and meaningful art; “It’s really unfair to people who actually spend hours and hours on making art. I know myself as an artist, it takes me a very long time, but then AI is just a matter of seconds, and it’s just like, you’re not actually doing it […] the AI generator’s doing it.”
AI generated art has distinct negative impacts on the artistic community with both the artists themselves and the consumers of the art that is created, and many find themselves standing against the use of artificial intelligence as a whole.
On the other hand, several students expressed their support for artificial intelligence when it is used in creative ways. “There is a special place for AI art,” says one Centaurus student, “I think AI stretches a lot further than just ‘generate a picture of a monkey surfing in the Bahamas.’ AI makes really cool things and it displays your creativity to the fullest. If you are using a powerful software, you can create a whole story through AI that someone else may not have been able to come up with.” Artificial intelligence can be valuable for gathering ideas across the internet and twisting them into something new within a matter of seconds, a process that can take the average person hours, even days, to figure out. Although artificial intelligence may not be meant for creating finished art pieces, it can be a fantastic resource for referencing ideas and striking inspiration. As Mica Reed states, “I would not be inspired by exhibited AI art, but I could get behind AI aided art.” AI may be a helpful tool for artists going through an art block or just struggling to come up with unique ideas. The powers of artificial intelligence can still play a small role in the artistic process, even if it’s unacceptable to display generated images as a form of art itself.
While beliefs on artificially generated artwork are varied across the board, there is no one correct answer to the problem. The use of artificial intelligence in artistic communities is an opinion that will change from person to person, making it difficult to say for certain whether AI is ‘good’ or ‘bad. Rather, it is a choice of the individual based around the experiences and beliefs that define them. We may never reach a unified consensus about AI having positive or negative effects.However, the important thing is to listen without judgment to others who may have different opinions and allow beliefs to change and grow over time.
