Artificial Intelligence has seen massive growth in its text generating capabilities recently, but other than writing, there is one other medium that AI is getting scarily good at replicating, art. AI has been observed in the art landscape for years at this point, and is still considered fairly new technology. Due to this fact, it is quite shocking just how fast AI art has been able to progress within the short period it has been around for, and this rapid progression has left people and artists everywhere in a state of fear, excitement and uncertainty.
Other than being worried or excited about AI, some just don’t see it as useful at all. Whether it’s due to the quality of the art the AI produces, or a general aversion to using it out of the idea that using AI to make art may invalidate one’s work, many believe it can’t help them in their own art process.
“I don’t really see AI as useful in any way in my art process, one because I’d feel ashamed for using it, though I don’t think it can really assist outside of writing spaces in any way I’ve seen,” sophomore art student Wyatt Valleroy said.
AI art has been seen as a way to generate ideas to help artists gain a slight push on taking their ideas, expanding upon ideas they already have, or just generally quickly visualizing said ideas, but some worry using AI will completely remove humans from the process of making art and replace those in artistic fields.
“I think it can be helpful as far as finding references or generating inspiration, but as far as generating images and taking away from work artists can be doing and making a living off that is the more concerning side of it,” art teacher Courtney Flamm said.
However, AI art is typically trained by having the program view works of human art and teach itself to use those art pieces to make something that is along the same lines as what it has seen. Some see this as an unethical, and generally malicious practice, as most of the time artists don’t get to choose whether they want the AI to learn to copy based off of their works.
“I despise the fact that AI is just stolen, regurgitated art, and in general I think artists should have total control over how their art is used,” Valleroy said.
Despite the advancements that AI has made, not everyone is afraid of AI and its impact on the livelihoods of artists, and just see it as a helpful tool that will not advance any further than that.
“I don’t think it will ever replace artists, but I do think it is a tool that will need more awareness and guidelines as we learn how it fits into the art world and into our lives in this time,” Flamm said.
Still, AI has been seen as a threat to artists, and some people ultimately wish it had absolutely, or close to, no involvement in the world of art, as many think it fundamentally goes against what art even is.
“I think instead of having laws deciding what it can and cannot do, it would be better just not to exist, or it to be very strictly regulated,” Valleroy said.
It’s clear that many people, all over the world, artist or not, have their own opinions on whether AI should be banned in art, used as a helpful tool, or anything in between. AI is a divisive topic. It’s rapidly changing and always growing and improving, and it’s up to people today to figure out how to use it and how much to regulate it.
“I think that with time, AI will almost be able to replicate anything it’s seen or been fed,” Valleroy said.
