How AI is revolutionizing the world of art, challenging creativity, raising ethical questions, and impacting our perspective of art.
Every new technological invention has always sparked fear in the world of art. Our first instinct to something new is to always resist it. This has been a recurring story all throughout history, with artists being threatened by photography, digital art, and now AI generated art. Artists have constantly been fretting over the possibility of being replaced by these new innovations… But do we really need to fear them? Is AI art something that is actually going to wipe our creativity and talent?
One of the earliest ways to capture the world around us was through portraiture paintings, with skilled artists achieving outstanding realism in their works. However, when photography emerged in the 19th century, gaining popularity for capturing portraits in a significantly cheap and accessible method, it sparked controversy amongst everyone. Many artists refused to believe that operating a machine required any talent. Why did we need artists if we could capture the world around us through a machine?
Contrary to their beliefs, this innovation of photography led to significant expansion of the art world. Photography influenced major art movements such as Surrealism and Dadaism. Artists utilise photography as a medium to experiment with a camera’s ability to distort and collage. While photography became an art of its own, it was a catalyst of change in abstractionism and expressionism.
Two centuries later, another wave of innovation had crashed into the creative community: Digital art. As our dependency on computers rose, the curiosity and popularity of digital art also increased with apps like Procreate and Clip Studio paint emerging. Suddenly, people didn’t need high-end quality charcoal, 36 shades of watercolors, or 5 different 2H pencils to create art…. just a computer screen. But this struck as a betrayal for traditional artists, as critics argued that this artform “didn’t require skill” and “devalued the essence of true art”. However, some people recognized digital art for its multitude of advantages: flexibility, accessibility, low budget requirement, efficiency and speed. Experimenting with different colors and techniques became easier, compared to the tedious process of covering up mistakes or repainting involved in traditional painting.
This was a critical point for the art world as it forced them to reconsider the original perspective towards art. Was the value of art measured through an artist’s expertise in using different mediums on a physical canvas or through the message an artwork communicates with the audience?
As time progressed, the rigidity against digital art loosened. Instead of displacing artists, digital art opened numerous career pathways such as video game designers, animators, 3D modeling and graphic designers, fields that employ several thousand artists. Companies like Pixar, Disney, Call of Duty, or even the architecture that we see around us wouldn’t have been possible without this.
These innovations didn’t ever kill art. It revolutionized art.
Today, we are facing a new era of AI-generated art. Similar to photography and digital art, AI art has sparked a lot of controversy, fear, and even curiosity within us.
Artificial Intelligence at its core is undeniably powerful in numerous aspects as it has countless advantageous abilities.
One of AI’s advantages is the speed at which it generates dozens of images. While us humans take hours or sometimes days on the rough draft, concept artists and prompt engineers can experiment with multiple different directions of art in significantly less time. Create images within minutes, generate unique ideas and styles within seconds and much more.
This in turn leads to a creative expansion - where AI can broaden our horizon of knowledge on various types, styles, and mediums of art - which some artists struggle to attain. When artists experiment with an artform, their thought process usually gets constrained to that particular style and technique. However, due to AI’s access to a wide range of datasets, it can combine different genres, produce hybrid results, and sometimes entirely new aesthetics. It influences artists by giving an extra boost of creativity in their artworks.
Moreover, AI-generated art is accessible to a significantly wide range of audience. Traditional art usually requires expensive equipment, years of learning and skill refinement, and education … resources that some don’t have access to. With AI art, all you need is one device with a ChatGPT, MidJourney, or DALL-E to get access to unlimited mediums and styles of arts.
However, some argue that the use of AI would lead to the democratization of art, risking the oversaturation of the art field and leading to the undermining of artistic skills and expertise. The endless string of visuals that AI creates makes it more difficult for original artists' works to stand out, as the audience is already overwhelmed. This raises a question about what real artistic skill is.
Furthermore, a more long-term issue is that there will be a potential devaluation of artistic labour. If companies and businesses resort to AI in order to limit the costs for graphic designing and art, it would threaten the income of artists, illustrators, and designers who have spent years perfecting their craft. If the market starts to see art as something that can be effortlessly generated within seconds, then the economic worth of an artist’s efforts would also reduce, regardless of the emotional or cultural values.
For many, they don’t just see AI isn’t just a tool, but a competitor.
In addition to this, the ethics of AI art can’t be ignored.
With ChatGPT and other AI image trends rising, we were all drawn to the AI Italian Brain Rot, AI Squish effect, Deep-Fake and AI Cartoon portraits on social media. These trends burn bright on social media but die within no time to be replaced by more, but everyone still ends up trying at least one. Among them was the AI Ghibli trend, where you prompt ChatGPT with photos of yourself, and it converts them into Ghibli-style characters.
While it’s fun and playful on the surface, many raised concerns on this issue. Studios like Ghibli spend countless years inventing a unique style of art that is treasured and cherished, but AI simply imitated their signature style without consent, within seconds. Not for one or two, but hundreds of people around the world. This cheapens and devalues the true essence of their art style.
Heart on My Sleeves song- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2qxvg9NNPM
This dilemma isn’t just for visual arts, as many musical artists are also struggling with this. In 2023, a viral song called “Heart on My Sleeve” by Drake and The Weeknd was released, receiving over 11 million views across all platforms. But in reality, this was an AI-generated song, with cloned vocals of both the artists. Because of this, the song received threats from Universal Music Group, and was even removed from streaming platforms like Youtube and Spotify. Ironically, just a year later, Drake released “Taylor Made Freestyle”, a track that used AI-generated vocals by Tupac Shakur (a singer who passed away in 1996) and Snoop Dogg, leading to threats of legal action by Shakur’s Estate.
The concern doesn’t just end there! Over 200 musicians like Nicki Minaj, Billie Eilish, and Stevie Wonder signed an open letter in 2024, warning against the “predatory use of AI”, it shows the worry of artists across all fields. It highlights one of the greatest challenges of AI: where do we draw a line between exploration and exploitation of art in AI?
Artificial Intelligence will undoubtedly continue to advance, rapidly producing artworks that are visually appealing and creative. We have already come to a point where AI-powered robots like AI-Da have created artworks that have sold for 1 million USD and AI-generated art has been displayed in exhibitions in Dubai and museums in Los Angeles. However, no matter the progress that AI makes in Art, it won’t replace humans.
Why? Because art is much more than just the visuals. Sure AI can create cool hybrid aesthetics, surprise us by blending various mediums, and generate countless images, but it can’t experience the joy, the pain, the anger or the culture. These human emotions and experiences are what differentiates a painting, sculpture, or sketch from art. AI could be the one creating the images, but the meaning behind each stroke, line or shape, comes from us.
Instead of taking over us, AI will challenge us to change our perspective and the way we think about art.
As AI in art rises in popularity, art may gradually start depending less on the technical skills, but on how well the artist can curate something that communicates effectively with the audience. This would open up crucial opportunities for people who have limited access to resources or training, allowing them to convey their vision through the prompts.
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This artificial intelligence evolution would also lead to the expansion in career opportunities beyond traditional roles like illustrator or graphic designer. Artists will be able to explore opportunities like AI prompt designers, creative technologists, or digital art curators. Soon, companies will be more inclined into hiring people who know how to work with AI and can integrate their artistic vision with the support of AI.
The future won’t be AI vs Human, but about humans collaborating with AI to develop and expand creativity.
Despite being a GenZ art enthusiast myself, and exploring with numerous techniques ranging from watercolors to wax color pencils to charcoal to digital art, I was initially unable to accept that AI-generated art is “real art”. Lines of code don’t communicate with humans in the way traditional artworks… until I tried it.
I began with feeding ChatGPT and Midjourney some of my ideas, did research on prompt crafting, and discovered the vast range that AI can offer. Suddenly, there were beautiful post-apocalypsic sceneries, bright neon rivers, and a surreal cathedral combined with the impasto technique.
What I loved throughout my experience with experimenting with Midjourney is how unpredictable. Sometimes, when my prompts are very clear or detailed, the Ai tends to drift away from my initial idea. However, instead of being “wrong”, it inspired me and opened up new directions for me to explore. For example, when I initially set out to create an image of a large broken sand timer, MidJourney produced something far more abstract than I had envisioned. But it sparked an entirely new direction for me to experiment, and produced a result that admittedly looked more intriguing.
On the other hand, there were also aspects that did frustrate me as a traditional artist. When I have a very clear image in my head, it can be difficult trying to translate it into the exact language the AI will understand. Being too vague leads to random results, but being too detailed can overwhelm the system. It was very tricky to find the balance between clarity, detail, and conciseness and it is still a challenge that I face. Additionally, while MidJourney produces visually striking images, the videos that it generated are still one of its key weak points. The videos often feel too cartoonish or bizarre compared to the realism or professional-like results I attain in images. But, as time progresses, the models of AI will also improve, getting trained with stronger models and datasets to produce more visually appealing results.
This entire process of experimenting with Midjourney was like unlocking an entire new dimension; one where not even the sky is the limit here…
Hence, history has shown that every innovation in the world of art has sparked fear within us - from photography, to digital art, to AI art - our pattern of fear of displacement when it comes to innovation is obvious. Even though AI does pose threats regarding oversaturation and ethics, it also provides opportunities for people of any background to explore, improves efficiency, and provides unique sets of ideas.
At the end of the day, art has never solely depended on the tool, but the message. The emotions and stories that are communicated through the colors, shapes, lines, forms, and much more. So, regardless of it being a paint brush, camera, iPad, or AI, shouldn't creativity be accepted all the same?
Without a doubt, AI in art is still a field that needs to be explored and advanced in order to create barriers to determine how to efficiently, but also ethically use this vital tool.
AI is inevitably going to be a part of our daily lives, whether it is for coming up with project ideas, writing emails, and even in art. But the question remains: will we continue to defy it, or embrace the change that AI brings?
Supercharged Studio is a creative technology agency that has crafted websites, apps, logos, and brands for numerous businesses. We help emerging innovators, industry leaders, hustlers, and dreamers create a competitive edge through design.
Your ideas will like it here.
Supercharged Studio is a creative technology agency that crafts websites, apps, logos, and brands. We help emerging innovators, industry leaders, hustlers, and dreamers create a competitive edge through design.
Your ideas will like it here.
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