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There are dozens of AI art generators available, and all are capable of generating artworks from nothing but a simple text prompt. However, just because something is available to use doesn’t mean we should actively use it.
I’m not here to argue that AI art generators aren’t fun, and even useful in some contexts. However, there are many valid reasons to stop using artificial intelligence to create art, and here are just a few of the most compelling ones.
1AI Art Generators Reduce Art Down to an Algorithm
The fundamental issue with AI art generators is that they reduce art down to an algorithm. Which begs the question of whether AI art can be considered art in the first place. We have looked atboth sides of the AI art debatepreviously, and the jury is still out on the matter. But the fact remains that AI art is generated rather than created, and generated by nothing more than an algorithm interpreting a text prompt.
Is that art? I’m not convinced that it is, personally speaking. Even if you do believe that AI art IS art, you have to accept that dumbing art down to an algorithmic interpretation isn’t going to produce the kinds of masterpieces that humans can, and have been doing for centuries.
2AI Art Generators Are Putting Artists Out of Work
If artificial intelligence can create art without really trying, is there any need for human artists anymore? I certainly think so, as I don’t consider AI art to be up to the standard of human artists. However, that isn’t stopping people using AI art instead of employing human artists to create art.
There’s a lot of speculation overhow generative AI will change the job market, but it’s already happening to artists and other people in the creative industries. And these jobs aren’t likely to return, as AI art generators are only getting more popular and capable.
As an aside, I’m more sensitive than most to the impact that artificial intelligence is having on people’s jobs, because I have also been affected. I’m obviously a writer rather than an artist, but companies are now actively using AI to replace writers.
3AI Art Generators Produce Low-Quality Noise
Over the centuries, there have been countless artworks produced. You only have to visit an art gallery in a major city to realize quite how much art humans produce. However, while humans can take days, weeks, or even months to produce a piece of art,AI art generatorsare pumping them out constantly. And many of the images they produce are low-quality nonsense.
How likely is it that any one piece of AI art will live beyond the moment that it’s produced? I can’t imagine people in several hundred years flocking to study a piece of art generated by artificial intelligence as they do Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa or Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers.
4AI Art Generators Steal Styles From Elsewhere
By their very nature,AI art generators steal styles that already exist. There’s no imagination or creativity there; AI art is generated by a machine that has absorbed other genres and styles and then sought to replicate them. This is ethically questionable, as actual artists have invented or contributed to these different styles over many years, only for artificial intelligence to essentially steal the techniques.
Even beyond the ethics involved, it means that AI art is only ever going to replicate what has already been, and not create anything unique or original. At least in terms of genre or style.
5AI Art Generators Could Prevent New Movements Emerging
Further to the above, if AI art generators can only steal from what has already happened, there’s a real danger that new art movements will no longer emerge. Art movements tend to emerge from the gloom based on what’s happening in the world at that time. Whereas artificial intelligence will just keep pumping out the same old styles and genres regardless of the wider context in society.
From the Renaissance to the Modern Art movement, the prevailing art of the time has reflected the state of the world. In a way, the masses of AI art now being produced does reflect the era we’re living in, but not in a good way.
6AI Art Generators Could Kill People’s Creativity
There’s an inherent danger that the rise ofAI art generators will impact creativityin some fundamental ways. For starters, it’s likely to inhibit people’s desire and ability to produce art on their own. Because, as wonderful as technology can be, it does tend to inhibit the skill sets it replaces.
The obvious example of this is how calculators have inhibited people’s ability to do arithmetics in their heads. Once the need for that skill disappeared, so did the skill itself. And if the same applies to AI art generators, then humanity could lose the ability to actually create meaningful art. I personally don’t want to see this happen, but the more we rely on artificial intelligence, the more likely it becomes.
7AI Art Lacks Any Deeper Meaning That Real Art Contains
The best artworks in the world, whether paintings, statues, or some other medium, don’t just exist for the sake of existing. The artists have imbued them with a deeper meaning. And that is something that artificial intelligence is (currently) unable to replicate. AI art generators are creating images, but not necessarily art. Unless the person prompting the AI has themselves sought to force some deeper meaning.
Even if they have done, however, AI art is still just a facsimile of what someone has typed into a text box. Whereas each brushstroke of a painting or carving of a sculpture is imbued with the artist’s feelings. Something that AI will never be able to replicate. Therefore,AI-generated art is changing the future of artin a fundamental way.
I do understand the appeal of AI art. You type a few words into a text box, select a style or genre, and a machine spits out a work of art. This is a compelling exercise, especially for those of us who aren’t especially skilled at drawing or painting. But I personally feel that the bad outweighs the good here for the reasons outlined above.
