Is AI Art the End for Artists?
IMPORTANT: You’re going to want to have your images turned on for this one, trust me.
Did you know that everyone hates AI-generated art? I mean literally everyone, and the sooner it goes away, the faster we can pull our heads out of the sand.
We need to talk about this today, but first, have you heard the old fictional tale about the man and the box?
It's about a man who approaches you holding a box, and on that box is a button.
He says, "Press this button and I will give you 1 million dollars."
Of course, you ask what happens when you press the button, to which the man calmly replies, “A person you do not know will die.”
So there’s the moral dilemma; do you take the money or save the person? What if it’s a single mother with three young children? Maybe the person is already terminally ill and you’d be doing them a favor.
Believing it’s more likely the latter, you roll the proverbial dice and press the button. And without hesitation, the man hands you a case filled with money and walks away.
What you don't realize though is that the man does this same thing again with another individual, who also presses the button.
And the one that dies this time is you.
Dun Dun dunnnnn!
So the other day, I made some AI Art, and as you may have already guessed, I did not die. However, I cannot confirm or deny if another artist died after I made it. Considering I generated about 100 images over the weekend, I may be on a creative killing spree, and if an artist friend of yours is suddenly not answering your text messages, don't look at me.
Ok, no artists died from it, but if you spend any time on Twitter or Instagram, the topic of the merits and necessity of AI Art is hotly contested. Some artists believe it's the end of the creative world as we know it while others believe it’s nothing more than a tool to be utilized.
I have no intention of re-arguing the entire debate here for this video, but after spending as much time playing around with the MidJourney app, I have some thoughts.
The Controversy?
On the off chance you have no idea what I'm talking about, AI stands for artificial intelligence, and AI art is a computer-generated art that uses references from all across the internet to generate interpretations of prompts given by users.
Let's say for instance you had an immediate need to see what a narwhal would look like with bacon wings, you can do something like that.
That's absurd, but there have been some truly amazing pieces of art generated by these apps, for instance, the AI Art that won a blue ribbon at the Colorado State Fair this summer.
And immediately after, the art world lost its mind over it.
The funny thing is, most of the people getting upset about it are artists, designers, and illustrators who primarily make digital art, but do they ever think about how the very devices we use today put a lot of older creative people out of work?
I’m a graphic designer and the thing about my chosen profession is that it eradicated the entire typesetting industry almost overnight with the advent of graphical interfaces on computers and Microsoft Word.
Will AI Art do the same to artists, illustrators, and designers?
To answer that, just ask the photographers because back when photography was invented and growing in popularity, the art world rallied against the process, saying it was a cheap alternative, and if it proliferated, would be the death of artistry.
Yeah, pretty sure that's not how it played out, and I believe that the same will be true with AI Art.
We're still at the very early stages of AI Art, not anywhere close to the beta version of anything. The AI can render some truly amazing art, but it's imperfect.
The Prompt for that image? Small head big body cowboy and horse driving in a 1932 Cadillac, giant hot dog in the sky, style of Robert Williams, cerulean blue sky, orange dirt on the ground, puffy clouds in the background.
Yeah, I’m weird and broken, leave me to my insanity.
Anyway, true art should be imperfect, but the AI needs to learn how to render perfectly before it can step back and render imperfectly on purpose.
At the moment, it's a guessing game, and virtually impossible to get exactly what you want from it. You can give it all the prompts you want, but it's not customizable in a way that gives you real control.
For now, you must embrace the random serendipity of what gets created until the AI gets smarter, and it is getting smarter fast.
The thing is, we don't know how long it will take to get to that level of perfection. It could be next year or ten years, we don't know, so we go about our business while staying vigilant.
It's important to keep an eye on what is happening with this new technology because for some artists, you will be presented with choices. It’s better to be prepared for those choices now instead of getting hit in the face with them when it's too late.
These are my takeaways from making AI art
First, this is an inevitability. The djinn is out of the bottle and we can't stuff it back in, so we better embrace it.
Second, Using AI art in our work makes us curators. We commission the art more than we are the creators of it, but that's no different than Duchamp, Warhol, Koons, or Murakami.
Third, it's highly conceptual, but for the most part, not ready to become a finished work. Some will use what they create as the final render, but over time, that will look like they tried to rush to the finish.
However, I believe we can use the conceptual aspect to help boost our creativity. Think about them as highly detailed rough sketches that help you visualize an idea differently than you normally would. Seeing these renders could take you in exciting new directions.
Also, we can take this work and incorporate it into our own. I rendered the designs above in Midjourney, and though they're not indicative of my work because they lack the depth that I like to incorporate, I can visualize ways to use them to make something cooler.
Finally, it's important to remember that your creativity isn't dictated by the way you expertly place paint on a canvas or draw lines on an iPad. What makes your art your art is the natural intelligence that exists between your ears.
The AI will never be able to replicate that unless you decide to close yourself off to the possibilities. Then yeah, for sure, the death robots are coming for you first.
The way I see it, we have three choices
You can get on the bus and learn how to adapt to using AI in a way that compliments our style.
Over time, not only will the AI learn from you, but you will learn from it, and maybe create (or curate) the best stuff you've ever made.
Or you can use what is presented and turn it into something significant and supportive of your work.
Or you can give AI the proverbial middle finger and find ways to make your handmade art so damn good it's exemplary and unable to be rendered or duplicated.
Ultimately, AI art is a tool, no different than your paintbrush or Apple Pencil, and like any other tool in your toolbox, you can learn to use it to your advantage, or toss it in the bin.
Personally, I haven’t had this much fun making absurd art in a very long time. Will I use it professionally? I’m not certain yet, but you’ll see some of it appear here now and then.
See you next time,
Dave
I create my own tarot and oracle cards, and there is a significant amount of symbology that goes into creating the cards, that I don't think AI could ever create. Much of the symbols used in the tarot comes from the collective unconscious; something that is found in myth and religion in cultures all around the world. These symbols are only recognized by someone who understands the human experience, which AI will never comprehend. Personally, I don't feel that AI is a threat.