AI algorithms are constantly improving and becoming more accessible. They can generate images, texts, or music in seconds that would take artists years of training and experience to create. What at first glance appears to be technological progress, poses a serious threat to many artists, designers, and creative professionals.
What is AI art?
AI art is based on algorithms that analyze large amounts of data, such as paintings, music, or texts, recognize patterns, and generate “new” images from them. It has nothing to do with the concept of art as we know it. AI art is purely mathematical. It is based on probability calculations, pattern recognition, and combinatorics, which has little to do with human artistic creation. This means that if, for example, you want an AI program to generate an image of a tree, the program does not create a tree itself but generates an average tree from tens of thousands of data points tagged with the word “tree.” They can even imitate the style of artists. AI art is therefore not art in its own right, but merely a composition of quantities of human-created art.
Impact of AI art:
Unfortunately, millions of works of art are used and imitated almost always without permission. This is not only unethical, but can also demotivate artists. AI programs are so accessible that almost anyone can generate an image in a particular style. This makes it increasingly unattractive to take the time to be creative and create your own images or your own style. Why should you, when you can get the desired result with a single click? People often forget that art is not only about the result, but above all about the creative process. The process of trying, failing, and growing is something that is lost as a result. Since AI neither feels nor reflects, it lacks the creative process that gives art meaning. What emerges is not an inner expression, but the result of a mathematical calculation.
Who is affected by AI art?
Advertising filmmakers, web designers, campaign designers, layout artists, illustrators, catalog photographers, and others are severely affected because their work is often already being done by AI. There are already prompts for all kinds of things that can be used to create layouts, color sets, and even entire advertising campaigns. Today, you can already find completely AI-generated advertising videos or AI-generated book covers everywhere. Sure, it’s easier, faster, and cheaper than hiring a human to do it, but is it justified to replace humans with AI that uses their work without permission and without giving credit?
What can we do?
It is difficult to prevent your art from being collected by AI and used for AI “art” once you post it on the internet. You can only make it more difficult for AI to decipher your work. There are so-called masks that add pixels to the image that are invisible to the human eye but make it more difficult for machine learning models to decipher. You can use Mist, Anti-Dreambooth, or Glaze, for example, with Glaze being the easiest to use and available for download as an app. Keep in mind that you can’t protect works from AI retroactively. Once something is uploaded to the internet, you no longer have control over it.
Although AI is technically impressive, it lacks original creativity or emotional depth. It does not replace the human creative process, but merely draws on existing works. That is why it is important to promote and protect human art and creative professions. Art is more than a calculated result. It is created through emotion and the process of creation.
