A.I. generated Art (where do you stand?)

[Bowie]

I think it’s kind of digitalising something that’s already there, in a way. Plagiarism and idea theft has always existed, so in many ways a database that consists of existing artist’s work is just taking that conscious, mental choice or more simply “inspiration” and turning it into an inevitability.

I’m not too sure if what I’m saying is coming across exactly how I mean it to, but basically what I’m trying to say is that I think it’s taking plagiarism and making it into something you might otherwise actively choose not to do.

On the other hand, there is such a thing as “transformative” work, so you could also easily make the argument that because the model is mashing up data to an unrecognisable extent, it is creating a new work regardless of what it’s taken from existing content.

And if you want to go even further down the rabbit hole, you could argue that no work is truly original at all because you might’ve used a computer to make it, and you didn’t build the computer, nor did you build the program you used to draw the art, or built the tablet you use to draw with.

As an artist myself, my overall view is perhaps the simplest: is the art good? I don’t really care if AI can create something hyper-realistic or mimic an existing artist’s work accurately; I just want to know if it can create something that’s original and commercially or artistically viable on its own. If the answer is yes, that’s the only thing any audience is ever going to care about, for better or for worse.

And if you’re trying to build your portfolio as an artist, I can promise you that few employers are ever going to ask you about your technique or your process; all anyone wants to know is if your final product is a good image. I see it more as a fascinating demonstration of the art market than any sort of harsh reality.

Oh, and as for it replacing “real” artists, I truly doubt it. Computers may be able to render and produce, but only human artists can design and establish the aesthetics that a computer draws its own inspirations from. That’s why it needs a database. Maybe it’ll get to the point where it can create from a vacuum, but that vacuum will still have to come from human input. You could even argue that a human is required to “design” the prompt.

Gosh, this turned into a long rant.

 

[pocketcat]

I’m not a professional artist and my heart does go out to the professionals suffering because of this, the issues are so complex and have so much real world damage that it’s almost unfathomable. In comparison, my issue with it is small.

AI art has made doing art, as a hobbyist, feel like a waste of time. So I’ve simply stopped drawing. A lifelong hobby and passion of mine dried up overnight because it feels like, ‘I shouldn’t spend the time drawing that, an AI could do it better anyway, I should do something more useful.’

Writing has become that way for me too. I used to write and draw for hours after work. Now I struggle to even look at my WIPs or drafts. My desire to be creative has vanished because of these tools, because I only ever did art for fun anyway.

Any advice on how to overcome that feeling is appreciated. I’d like to be passionate again. Or just anyone with a similar predicament. I don’t think I’m alone in these feelings.

 

[lunatepic]

since the ethics of this have already been discussed at length, I won't go too into detail, but I agree with most in that without the consent of those whose works these tools have been trained on (which, as far as I've seen, is almost never given), it's theft, and it's scummy. the legality of it all seems to be in a grey area as of now, but it is reassuring to know that, at least in the US, ai generated art isn't protected by copyright law.

I’m not a professional artist and my heart does go out to the professionals suffering because of this, the issues are so complex and have so much real world damage that it’s almost unfathomable. In comparison, my issue with it is small.

AI art has made doing art, as a hobbyist, feel like a waste of time. So I’ve simply stopped drawing. A lifelong hobby and passion of mine dried up overnight because it feels like, ‘I shouldn’t spend the time drawing that, an AI could do it better anyway, I should do something more useful.’

Writing has become that way for me too. I used to write and draw for hours after work. Now I struggle to even look at my WIPs or drafts. My desire to be creative has vanished because of these tools, because I only ever did art for fun anyway.

Any advice on how to overcome that feeling is appreciated. I’d like to be passionate again. Or just anyone with a similar predicament. I don’t think I’m alone in these feelings.

your feelings are completely understandable, and I've seen so many artists express the same things. I find it helpful to keep in mind what distinguishes human work from ai. when creating stuff, we make hundreds of small decisions each minute, whether we're conscious of it or not. the words and colours we choose, the placement of brushstrokes and flow of prose - it's all informed by taste and technical skill, which in turn are products of your own life experiences, time, and effort. it's cheesy, but the things we create really are reflections of ourselves. It seems like many others in this thread believe that there's inherent value in this, and there's always going to be demand for it. several game dev studios have gone out of their way to ban ai, and there are tools being developed to protect artists' work.

surround yourself with people that create for the joy and fun of creating, and hopefully you'll find some renewed passion for the things you like to do. as a hobbyist myself, I'll take any art that's created by human hands over something generated by an ai, regardless of apparent 'quality'. human art and the processes that go into it are just infinitely more valuable to me.

 

[-Blue-]

Snip

I understand what you are saying and I am sure a lot of hobbyists and artists have decided to take on different hobbies or careers because of this. I haven't really drawn in a while just because life is such a time sink, but I still write stories for a bunch of different ideas. It's always fun to have that creativity and mold it the way you want it to be.

Now they have AI for writing literature. Google just came out with Bard. There were a bunch of people posting on discord how they 'made/wrote' a story using it. Granted it read like a elementary student wrote it, but it could get better over time. And even if still reads like a really young child wrote it, now those kids don't have to write anything because some teacher isn't going to put enough effort to fact-check if all their students in elementary are doing it themselves or using some AI.

But I'm not going to let that stop me from writing my stories. My stories are still my own and the AI can only try to replicate it. Something as simple as using certain words to evoke a different reaction, reoccurring themes, ect. AI is not human and even if it could manage to compete with a good book, it's a long ways from there.

The same goes for real art. The choices you make for your piece are your own. AI art pales in comparison to this level of thinking.

You should take note that a lot of people backing this are also those NFT bros. If you look at NFT/AI art, it's always the same generic stuff. Sure it might look good compared to someone just learning, but the computer isn't making anything itself. It's just taking a little bit of everything someone already laid out for it and Frankenstiening it. Check out the subs for Reddit and the such that are dedicated to AI and the software programs. They're full of NFT bros and people that have no understanding of art or respect for it.

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

I’m not a professional artist and my heart does go out to the professionals suffering because of this, the issues are so complex and have so much real world damage that it’s almost unfathomable. In comparison, my issue with it is small.

AI art has made doing art, as a hobbyist, feel like a waste of time. So I’ve simply stopped drawing. A lifelong hobby and passion of mine dried up overnight because it feels like, ‘I shouldn’t spend the time drawing that, an AI could do it better anyway, I should do something more useful.’

Writing has become that way for me too. I used to write and draw for hours after work. Now I struggle to even look at my WIPs or drafts. My desire to be creative has vanished because of these tools, because I only ever did art for fun anyway.

Any advice on how to overcome that feeling is appreciated. I’d like to be passionate again. Or just anyone with a similar predicament. I don’t think I’m alone in these feelings.

I can kinda relate; when i found out about AI art I definitely felt way less motivated to make any serious digital art. I still kinda feel that way, but it's silly, because it's not like I'm even trying to get commissions from people or anything. (Which is even sillier, because people absolutely do still value human-made art; I've seen so many commissioners specifically state "No AI Art" in their "Looking For" posts on reddit or what-have-you)

When you put aside the existence of AI art, there's still all the tens of thousands of artists out there who are absolute masters of their craft; someone who will always be better than you, and it can be both inspiring and intimidating. I always end up comparing myself to other artists, but at the same time, it can be so motivating.

But I don't compare myself to AI art, because at the end of the day it's just an algorithm that is made to steal from real artists' work. It didn't spend years/decades of drawing to get where it is today. It didn't spend hours of researching, watching tutorials, reading art books, getting critiques from other people, etc. It didn't reflect on what kind of artist it wanted to become, and what the art it makes means to it. It didn't work on the same piece over the course of several days or weeks or months or years; from a doodle to a thumbnail to a sketch to a rough draft to halfway done, to almost being finished, to a mostly finished piece that it will never be able to reflect on or be proud of, because it's just a program.

AI art is completely hollow. It's a gimmick. It's also usually either a complete eyesore or something admittedly pretty but very off-feeling, like uncanny valley. People who use these programs typically tend not to be artists (or have any real interest in making art at all), so they themselves don't tend to see all the glaring mistakes of their """"work"""". The people who commission AI art from people who """make""" AI art are also typically not the type of person to commission real artwork from human artists, so it's not like human artists are really missing out on any commissions.

Any AI art I see now I immediately discredit, because to me, it's just not real art. It's art, but at the same time, it's really not? It's hard to explain what I mean. Human-made art is and always will be so far above any AI art, because it's a testament to hard work, perseverance, growth, and true creativity. AI art will certainly improve and it will very likely become indistinguishable from human-made art at some point, but that's no reason to stop making your own art, because no matter how good AI art gets, your art will always be better.