The Art of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has rapidly evolved over the past decade, and exponentially so in the past few years. It's influenced many aspects of our lives, from healthcare, to finance, to social media; but it's the influence of AI on visual art that this blog post is concerning. I especially want to highlight the ways in which AI is increasing social stratification and making the practice of art even less accessible to the lower classes.

AI serves as a powerful tool for artists, enabling them to explore new creative avenues. Programs like MidJourney, Dall-E, and Nighcafe allow artists to input their ideas and receive unique visual interpretations generated by algorithms. This collaboration between human creativity and machine learning opens up a world of possibilities, encouraging artists to push the boundaries of their work. This article was prompted by AI, but I have edited the contents to keep it in line with my creative vision. Doing so judiciously saves time without cheapening resulting work.

The conventional understanding of the ethics of AI generation are concerns about copyright infringement. As an artist, that isn't my primary concern. American copyright laws are largely the product of corporations seizing intellectual property rights in the 20th century. Before the 1960s, there was a much more relaxed view of copyright law, and it was certainly not something that artists worried about. Instead, my concern is about the potential for AI to replace workers, become monopolized, and be commoditized and controlled by the wealthy.

The hardware needed to drive Large Language Models (LLMs) like Chat-GPT, as well as image and video generation are very resource intensive. They require massive amounts of electricity to run, property to store the servers, and staff to maintain the machines. This translates into a need for funding, and that funding comes in the form of monthly fees (essentially renting the technology), one-time credit purchases, and data mining.

In addition to directly gathering data from the exchanges with users, AI driven algorithms make it easier to track our consumer habits, search histories, and political leanings. This is reflected in art, because those same algorithms drive the selection of what media we consume. The influence of these algorithms is seen in our streaming media, which shows and films are popular, and the art direction of those programs. With Americans spending more time at home and less socializing since the pandemic, the media we consume is shaping our worldview more than ever.

Art, media, and fashion have intersected since the advent of the printing press if not before. Now, AI is an unseen force directing the stylistic choices of our media. Take, for example, the recent fuferaw over banning Tik-Tok. In the end, there was no ban, but the threat of one gave Meta corporation a reason to switch the Instagram standard photo dimension from 1:1 to 4:5. It wasn't drastic enough to garner much attention, but artists who relied on the platform as a portfolio suddenly had their entire body of work cropped without notice or consent. Social trends occur gradually and often imperceptibly. We are now living in an increasingly connected society with the arbiters of style being Meta Corporation and Bytedance. AI allows corporations to plan long term profits from short term stylistic nudges, imperceptible to most and never inconvenient enough to warrant social outrage. This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper. AI companies also reserve their best models for paid subscribers, and the fees are considerable. Take for example Adobe's Photoshop at $50/month. To be a succesful "content creator", one needs to spend upwards of $10,000 at the bare minimum for the necessary equipment to record and produce videos at the requisite A/V fidelity, have the time to do so, and then pay for subscriptions like Adobe software and Meta verification.

The social media verification system itself is evidence of society equating wealth with relevancy. Likewise, AI will allow those who can afford to take advantage of it to in turn take greater advantage of the priviledges of that wealth. That's the real danger of AI, not of a dystopian Skynet where machines become intelligent. Rather, humans are going to beccome more like machines.

The AI influence in the algorithm is driving us to become ever more homogenous in what is socially expected. We're being coralled into groups by the illusion of community when in fact these communities have no more integrity than the synthetic networks we engage with them on. There's a conspiracy theory called the "dead internet" theory. Like most conspiracy theories, it's not true, but it has a kernel of truth to it. Social media is rife with AI bot accounts, and more importantly with paid advertising.

The most succesful artists on social media aren't the best painters or the most creative, conversely they're often the most hackneyed and predictable. They're safe and consistent, which is what appeals to advertisers. They often are independently wealthy, so they don't need to paint for money, they can take their time. Some can even express themselves sincerely, provided that their personalities are bland enough that such expression is inoffensive. The best artists I've seen are like the best minds of Ginsberg's generation starving, hysterical, naked.

I have been amazed to find some really exceptional artists only have a few hundred followers on social media. Even some very financially succesful artists who are represented by major galleries. Even David Hockney has fewer followers than a lot of the wealthy "lifestyle influencer" "artists". I saw an artist recently who posted their vacations to Europe, they even wore Breton stripes and a beret. Their paintings were mediocre, but they had over 100k followers because they conveyed the impression of an artist. And they used AI to design their website and stage their painting photos.

I am worried about the trajectory of AI and the way it's influencing art. I see it as a threat to the human capacity for imagination, and a greater wedge dividing us from interpersonal intimacy and candor. But, it's just another piece of technology and humanity will adapt in one way or another. I think art, real art, has always been at odds with pop culture. Andy Warhol wasn't condoning consumerism and certainly wasn't trying to advertise for Campbell's Soup. If nothing else, these trends inspire me to keep working on personal projects...projects that I don't post on social media...but I may post them here...so subscribe to my newsletter!