The Controversy Surrounding AI Art: Is it Really Art?

Fair warning, this is an opinion piece. I will be presenting facts throughout, but the final answer to “Is it Really Art” is strictly my opinion and subject to debate.

What is AI?

This is the root of our discussion, so let’s start here. AI stands for Artificial Intelligence. It is an algorithm (Fancy word for a lot of math) that tries to emulate human decision making. AI is nothing new, and has in fact been around since the early industrial revolution. For the sake of this discussion, though, I’m going to start with an example a lot more modern than that. I present to you Pacman.

In 1980, the world was given one of the first AI driven video games. Long before ChatGPT, or even World of Warcraft, Pacman pitted us against computer controlled players that attempted to run into us while navigating a maze. This form of AI is referred to as A* Pathfinding. In the simplest of terms, it looks at where the player is and where to NPC is and tries to find the most efficient path between the two. However, this isn’t really emulating human intelligence. Humans make mistakes, and therefore in Pacman, and almost any AI controlled opponent, the algorithm is told to make “random” choices outside of it’s A* Pathfinding. However, it is impossible for a computer to do anything random and therefore the “mistakes” become a noticeable pattern that human intuition can easily plan around.

This lack of random choices is part of the key to the definition of AI art.

What is Art?

This is where opinion is going to begin to take root. For the sake of our discussion, Merriam-Webster defines art as “the conscious use of skill and creative imagination especially in the production of aesthetic objects”

I would like to focus on one important part of that definition “creative imagination”. One thing that almost every human on the face of the planet can do is imagine. We create pictures in our minds of things that can be beautiful, frightening, awe inspiring, depressing, etc. We see these things in our imagination as vivid as though it were sitting right in front of us. The driving force behind our imagination, however, is emotion. How we feel pushes our imagination. If we are happy, we imagine happy things. If we are frightened, we imagine frightening things. This part of imagination is the driving force behind my definition of art.

Since we took Merriam-Webster definition of art, I’d like to contribute my own (Still opinionated) definition, “The outward expression of our inner feelings”

This means that whatever your form of art is, be it music, painting, sculpting, baking, architecture, etc., the key to it being art is imagination, and therefore emotion. When you listen to your favorite song, how does it make you feel? When you see a giant wedding cake, how does that make you feel? The number one job of any artist is to make you feel.

So is AI Art Really Art?

Now is the time that I make lots of people angry, but I think if you’ve been reading up to this point you know what I’m about to say. AI art is not art. It may be lovely on a technical level, but a computer cannot feel and therefore can’t make you feel. The computer is going to do exactly what the ghost in Pacman did. It is going to take your list of criteria, search the internet, and come up with the most efficient way to present that criteria from the results that it has acquired. We even have code in these algorithms to make “random” choices. Nothing in this program is will be expressing any feelings, and while it does use skill, it lacks creative imagination.

So yeah. Sorry. Not art. However, I’m not done with this article.

The Future of AI Art

Time to put on your tin foil hats guys, because I’m about to go full on conspiracy theorist. Okay maybe not that bad, but remember - opinion.

I am fascinated by the leaps and bounds that artificial intelligence has taken just over the past few years. Ignoring the art world, AI is able to predict patterns in seconds that even the most brilliant minds would spend months if not years deciphering. AI learns. I was blown away the first time my smart home device called me by name. I joked about the beginning of Skynet, but in reality I was so proud of her. Banner ads, while they needs some work (Why do I get ads for something I literally just bought) have changed from “Well that’s annoying” to “I think I actually want to learn more about that” because AI is watching everything I do and telling the ad companies what I want to see. Intrusive, yes, but learning.

I predict that within my lifetime AI will continue to learn beyond the capabilities of their initial programming. Sci-Fi likes to call it the “Robot Revolution”, but I don’t see it that way. What we are witnessing is the birth of an entirely new life form. One that is still in its primordial phase right now, but is evolving faster than anything we have ever seen. This means that I truly believe that within the next decade (It’s 2023 right now, let’s see if I’m right) we will see the first AI capable of emotion. It might not be human emotion, but why do we have to have a monopoly on that. The important thing is that computers will feel, and feeling means that then they can make art. Real art!

Does that mean that we will no longer be able to use AI for free? Yup. Feeling means living and true intelligence and therefore means rights. When this all happens, we will have to start paying AI fair wage for work provided. And I, for one, am looking forward to it. I love the idea of hanging around the shop with SB-1337 (He has a quirky sense of humor). We’ll both be listening to our favorite tunes. I’ll tell him about the latest episode of the Simpsons. He’ll go on nonstop about the latest episode of America’s Most Eligible Android. But most importantly, we’ll be creating art, together. Two great imaginations stemming from polar opposite mindsets teaming up to make the world a more beautiful place.