The Strokes of an Artificial Brush

By: Emily Smith

Jessai Flores, Illustrations Editor

Not long ago, people would spend hours perfecting each stroke of the brush, using too much paint to whip up the perfect shade of blue, and having their own personal style that everyone could identify and cherish. As time has passed, art has changed and evolved, allowing artists to express their own individual perspectives and ideas. Today, as we enter the age of AI, artificial intelligence has grown into a $48 billion industry according to the ACM Digital Art Library. Before our eyes, AI has grown from a fun application that was practically useless, to a heavily relied on, resourceful tool that people all over the world use. As this tool quickly enters our daily lives, concerns about its effects on the art world go unnoticed. 

According to an interview conducted by the Harvard Gazette, AI can be an effective tool as well as a threat, especially in the art world. In this interview, an independent animator named Ruth Stella Lingford commented on how AI has affected the digital art world. She noted that AI can be trained to mimic her art style, to help large, time consuming projects take less time. She notes that using artificial intelligence as an aid has its concerns. Art is meant to show off one’s creativity, and although AI can help make the process go by faster, it will lack creativity and flair.

A different interview conducted by the Harvard Gazette focused on the world of architecture and interior design, and how AI has affected their process. Moshe Safdie, an architect and urban planner, explains that he thinks AI can be, “A helpful tool if it is used properly.” He notes that asking AI the right questions can provide significant answers that can possibly improve a project in the long run, or even create new ideas for future use. 

Although AI can be used as an aid for many modern forms of art, it brings forward the great concern of replacing jobs that once were done by humans. For the majority of jobs, such as interior design as mentioned previously, AI is used to aid humans by making their work more efficient than ever before. This function helps to support job security, and make many lives more comfortable. However, in the art world it is a different story.

As artificial intelligence is a computer, humans are simply unable to compete. Many jobs including more artistic fields will most likely be replaced as the demand for efficiency and accuracy increases in today’s society. According to the Montreal Institute of Ethics, AI can easily mimic human creativity and process. This brings forward the ethical issue of stolen art, and unethical ways to create art. It is simply in the name: Artificial Intelligence. Synonyms for the word “artificial” provided by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary are: Man-made, Imitation, and Sham. Art is not meant to be an “Imitation”, but instead, with intention and by a breathing being. According to the IEEE Computer Society, AI is unable to create original art. Instead, it is simply able to generate art by utilizing past works and mimicking other artists' style. In other words, AI is able to generate art by stealing real life work. 

As AI improves, more art will continue to be referenced and generated without anyone's knowledge, which will soon introduce the issue of detecting if art is real or AI generated. AI can be used as a resourceful tool, as well as being a destructive device. Making sure AI is used in ethical ways can help fight back against stolen art, jobs, and human creativity that used to flourish.