Effect of AI on Art
Published Date: 12/17/2023 Author: Dora Xu
Now that generative AI has become so widely used across a variety of fields such as in finance or medicine, there is significant potential for use in other ways. One of the most interesting applications is in art. While many believe that the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence has generated a lot of buzz and provides many opportunities for artistic expression, others are concerned about how we should be handling its use. A group of 14 researchers from MIT discussed potential consequences and implications of generative AI on the creative and social landscape.
One of the largest concerns that the researchers considered is how AI affects our understanding of humanity. Because generative AI tools are now capable of doing things that we would not have thought possible a couple years ago, it raises many fundamental questions about people’s roles in creative production. Exploring the gaps in research around generative AI and art, several researchers believe that we talk about AI in a fragmented way. Instead, we need to consider themes around AI’s impact and their interconnected influence on technology. Themes such as aesthetics and culture, legal aspects of ownership and credit, and impacts to the media ecosystem all have been drastically altered because of new issues stemming from generative AI use.
From the context of aesthetics and culture, many different art technologies can help inform us about how people’s perceptions have changed over time. For example, when photography was invented, many artists believed it marked the “end of art”. However, later it became its own medium and even gave rise to Impressionism and the modern art movement. In this sense, generative AI can also be a new medium that causes the nature of art to evolve with it. How will artists and creators express new forms of art through generative AI?
In terms of ownership and credit, the emergence of generative AI has caused significant issues with legal systems since there are few policies that help to regulate the use of new AI tools. Especially since today’s copyright laws are not updated to accommodate for the new technological changes, there have been many recent cases concerning the ownership of AI-generated art. When it comes to utilizing training data necessary for allowing the AI to learn various art styles, what is considered copyright infringement? How can lawmakers also ensure fair considerations of copyright infringement for different circumstances related to AI art?
Overall, generative AI systems can accelerate the creative process, but they also remove the ideation process so that you don’t need to start from scratch to produce your own art. Although sometimes this process can influence more creativity, it also raises concerns about how we can use AI tools to complement people’s work instead of replacing it. As such, more consideration must be given to better regulate and monitor the repercussions of using AI tools for art.
