Durham, England, UK – AI ‘art’ is using artificial intelligence to generate images. But this is not true art.
Listen to a human (the author) read this article:
Art is an expression of human emotions and intelligence. Not only is art being affected by AI, but other creatives such as music, poetry and literature are.
Due to the rise in AI ‘art,’ many creatives have been replaced by AI, leading to boycotts of companies such as Duolingo.
Concerned people are outraged by the exploitation of artists as the AI algorithm works by stealing and copying the creations of others to replicate or generate similar images.
And gallons and gallons of water is wasted when generating these images. It ruins the environment for working class communities and exploits the resources of Third World countries.
It is clear that AI ‘art’ has no positive effects for anyone except power hungry capitalist companies.
Many people come up with millions of excuses for AI ‘art’, excuses along the lines of the inaccessibility of art and creatives for disabled communities.
But this is ridiculous, as prominent figures in art and music are disabled. The artist Frida Kahlo was severely injured in a motor vehicle accident, but her disability didn’t stop her from creating art. Instead, it inspired her to create art from her pain.
Another example is the musician Stevie Wonder. Despite his blindness, his music is well known worldwide. And he produces and writes music as well as plays multiple instruments.
This weak excuse is ableist and infantilizes the disabled community. Plus, many of these so called AI ‘artists’ are not even disabled themselves.
Others claim that AI ‘art’ is a way to create inspiration. But by taking different online images and combining them together using Photoshop, people can make their own references.
This easily shows that AI is not needed in the art community as it removes the creativity people have.
AI ‘art’ is absurd. There is no excuse for using it when there are thousands of talented artists.
Not only are we losing human expression by using AI, but artists are losing their livelihoods, having their art stolen while companies become richer.
So what can we do? First try our best to boycott apps that use AI art and find alternatives. We can also buy art from small artists. And if we can’t buy their work, we can like their posts on social media so others can buy their art.
We can also make an effort to ignore AI ‘art.’ We can make mistakes and not realize what is AI due to fast paced content.
One way to make fewer mistakes is to quickly check the comments. A lot of AI pieces will have comments by people critiquing whether the art is AI or not.
Together we can make a better community for creatives.
Dezlene Erza-Essien is a Reporter with Youth Journalism International.
