AI Art Is an Oxymoron

Art is humanity– AI is regurgitation.

I’ve been off of most social media since January 1st (hello, New Year’s Resolution), but even on Substack, I can’t fully escape the awful, tooth-grinding presence of AI art. Soulless, glossy, slightly-off AI photographs, text that reads correctly but doesn’t read right– the products of AI are insidious, ever-present.

Before I stand on my soapbox and scream about how much I detest AI art, let me acknowledge the benefits of artificial intelligence as a tool. It can be helpful for folks with disabilities– and for everyone, it can serve as a search engine, research assistant, and idea soundboard. It can save time and effort and allow people to focus on the process of creation.

The problem (aside from the ethical and environmental implications of AI, which we’ll get to), is that many, many people aren’t only using AI as a tool. They’re using it to entirely sidestep the creative process and instantaneously manufacture an end product. They skip right past writing, photographing, video-editing, drawing, etc., and present the world with… something.

This thing, this end product, isn’t art. It may (sometimes) look like art, but it isn’t, because AI ‘art’ is an oxymoron.

Photo by julien Tromeur on Unsplash

Artificial intelligence can be used as a tool, but even the best AI products– even ones that are indistinguishable from human work– can never replace art. Art is about subjective experience. It’s about emotion, the interpretation of consciousness. Whatever form art takes, it represents different lives, different moments, different facets of the human experience.

AI, currently, cannot think. Every day, it gets better at following rules and patterns, at imitation and prediction, but it still fundamentally has no understanding or consciousness. It lacks the self-awareness and subjectivity that is the defining feature of human thought.

Art is about the human experience. Art is about life. Artificial intelligence does not experience life, and therefore it cannot create art. It can only regurgitate the experiences of others, mimicking style and intonation, sucking soul and meaning from the words to create a hollow imitation. AI can process, it can predict, it can produce– but it cannot create.

There are a plethora of issues surrounding our use of AI. Current AI has been trained off art stolen from non-consenting artists. The ‘art’ it produces comes from however many hundreds of thousands of pieces it has siphoned off the internet and blended into its database. Generating ‘art’ through AI instead of relying on actual humans creates a profit based on bastardized versions of art while depriving real artists of credit and income. It’s soulless, capitalistic, and insulting to everyone who pours themself into their artistic endeavors.

Large-scale AI also has horrendous effects on the environment. It requires rare materials often mined in destructive ways, produces hazardous waste, and may soon consume six times more water than the country of Denmark (in a world where 1.1 billion people lack access to water). The instant nature of AI– its convenience, its primary marketing point– turns it into an incredible strain on our already strained environment. And for what? Pictures of people with extra fingers and inhuman smiles? Give me a break.

This instant generation of ‘art’ encourages quantity over quality. Aside from its environmental impact, it cheapens the meaning and worth of art by making it instantly available. It robs people of the opportunity to engage deeply with creation. It discourages growth, and it discourages people from pushing their limits and maturing as an artist. It negates the entire point of the artistic process.

I don’t want art that’s easy to make. I don’t want art that’s perfectly generated but soulless. I want raw. I want genuine. I want real art. Humans are messy and imperfect and creative– and our art should be, too.

Photo by adrianna geo on Unsplash

Art is meaning-making. It’s an outlet of expression, purpose, and connection.

AI is a shortcut. AI ‘art’ is a polished forgery devoid of authenticity and emotion. It is the antithesis of everything art is supposed to be.

So much of life today is about convenience, not meaning. It’s a tragedy, but not a surprise, that this extends to our art, too. Reject easy but inauthentic shortcuts. Pursue what is real and valuable, even when it’s more challenging.

Embrace humanity. Reject aritifice.

See you next Sunday,

Allie

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What are your thoughts on the use of AI in art? Is there any place for it? Let me know in the comments.

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