Jason M. Allen, winner of Colorado State Fair’s annual art competition has caused an uproar in the artist community due to his winning piece being entirely created by an AI art generator midjourney. It has sparked the question should AI art be considered real art?

Throughout history, new mediums and technology in the art world have tended to cause controversy among the artists of the time. In the 19th century, the invention of the camera was seen as an aberration of true human artistry, in more recent times when digital art tools became more widespread, it was seen as inferior compared to traditional art. Unlike its predecessors AI-generated art isn’t used as a tool to aid the person making the art, instead it’s being purely produced by an algorithm. An algorithm that works by being fed large quantities of data in which it scours the internet for photos, pictures, illustrations, etc to learn to identify patterns and themes. This can be seen as a form of art theft and plagiarism as anyone who posts their art online can find their art stolen and replicated by AI. Since AI can replicate and create faster and cheaper than a human many artists believe this is the end of art as we know it.

While I do believe their fear is valid as it’s more than likely many if not all artists are going to be put out of work due to AI being cheaper and faster- seeing as most companies appear to only about the bottom line- I don’t believe it can ever fully replace human art. Art is made to be much more than just an end product you can commercialize, it’s how we as humans express ourselves. It is how we convey our thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Art cannot be art without humanity, it is what makes us human, and art special. So no I do not believe AI art is real art. AI cannot feel, it cannot express, it is but soulless imitation.

References: Roose, K. (2022, September 2). An a.i.-generated picture won an art prize. artists aren’t happy. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/02/technology/ai-artificial-intelligence-artists.html