IS AI CHEAPENING ART?
Back when I used to work for the federal government, the agency I was stationed at had an art show open to all employees. I was a part of the photography and videography team where I took official government portraits, covered in-house events, and documented satellite launches. Naturally, the art contest was centered around the exploration of space. Our photo/video team submitted a few awesome photos from launches to represent the media department. On the day of the art show, I walked down the hallways taking in all the other pieces submitted by the hardworking employees of the agency. There were gorgeous watercolors, photographs, acrylics, and sculptures. It was really amazing to see the hidden skills of people who spent their days computing launch trajectories and engineering rockets.
And then I reached a section on the wall with some cats wearing spacesuits. My curiosity was piqued and I looked closer at the artist’s tag. Underneath the name it read, “AI Generated Image.” Immediately I wondered what an AI image was doing in an art contest. I thought of all the people on my team who had spent years learning and understanding complex topics such as mechanics, optics, and composition in order to produce incredible photos. Not to mention all the special techniques they developed to be able to photograph rocket launches from areas generally closed to people because they are so close to the launch pad. All those years of experience, trial and error, and dedication contributed to the pictures submitted by the media team. The AI image was brought into existence by someone who sat behind a computer, typed in a prompt, and let an inhuman machine produce an image. To me, that is not art.
Staring at AI generated images always feels like stepping into the Twilight Zone. On their face, the images look familiar, recognizable even, but there is a deep foreboding sense that something is just…off. It’s a very alienating experience because you are not looking at an interpretation of a subject created by another human being. You are looking at a machine’s best guess at how a human would interpret a scene based off of words fed to an algorithm. To me, it felt very 1984. The generated image of the cat staring at me, telling me that it was a beautiful painting of a cat in a spacesuit. Parts of my brain were accepting that, yes, technically it is a cat in a spacesuit. However, there was that deeply human and emotional side of my brain that said, no, that is not a painting of a cat in a spacesuit. It’s only pretending to be. Two plus two does not equal five.
This all may sound very dramatic, but hear me out. Art is something that has been irrevocably human for the entire existence of the human race. For the first time in the entire history of our planet, that is in jeopardy. Works of art convey how it feels to be human. They pull at your heartstrings and make you feel things in a way you’ve never experienced. They deepen your compassion for fellow humans by allowing you to see the world through their eyes. Not to mention the skill it takes and the journey of the artist in discovering that skill. In order to produce that work they first had to have a life changing experience where they realized their penchant and passion for the medium. Followed by years of studying, trying, failing, questioning, trying again, crying, dusting off, and finally making one small triumph. But that progress isn’t linear. So they kept trying and failing more, multiple times before they really created something they were emotionally and technically proud of. Finally, they were able to stand proudly at the helm of their achievements with their failures in the wake pushing them forward.
The computer simply had to exist and execute a prompt. The resulting image being necessarily devoid of humanity, emotion, and skill. A cheap copy of something that would be better created by a skilled artisan.
I know many people will argue for the creators of the algorithms and computers themselves, saying these engineers are artists in their own ways. Thus, AI is the result of human ingenuity, craftsmanship, and artistry. Regarding the machines themselves, I agree. Computers are a wonder and the minds that created them are incredible in ways I can’t comprehend. I simply disagree that the images created by AI should be considered art in the same way a painting made by a brush in hand is.
Human-made art is rich with emotion, craftsmanship, and mastery. This phenomenon that we as a race have been producing for millennia to cope, celebrate, and record our lives needs to be cherished. Part of cherishing it involves properly honoring and compensating our artists. Today, it is common to drive down the highway and see billboards with AI generated imagery. Why pay a graphic artist what they’re worth when you could easily and cheaply (for now) have AI make something similar? Bosses at work tell people to just “ask ChatGPT” or tell people to summarize reports with AI. Why use the skills you spent years learning in university to produce quality work at your job? College students can have AI write full essays. Why learn how to write an essay in proper English when your future boss will just tell you to use AI anyway? We even see Google commercials with people asking their phones which color they should paint their walls.
It seems to me that the main goal of AI is to remove human emotion and decision making from everything. Thinking for ourselves, creating masterpieces with our hands, and using our guts are gifts from God. Replacing them with artificial copies is inhumane. Flooding the creative space with endless soulless images cheapens the art produced by real artists. It diminishes their skills, undervalues their contribution to the advancement of society, and undermines their ability to create lives for themselves. Artists with skills are just as important to society as the engineer who created the computer. If for nothing but to remind us what a fun and fulfilling gift it is to be able to use our creative intuition, emotion, and free will to decide which color to paint our walls.
