How do you feel about the insurgence of AI within the arts and creative industry?

The Photographers Gallery recently had an artist takeover on their IG sharing AI work which has received a lot of backlash.

We would love to know your thoughts on this topic... is it real art, does it damage the integrity of artists and the industry, does it exploit copyright and the artists work... or perhaps it's something we need to all jump on board and accept?

We would love to also hear from artists who are actively working with AI and the positives that you believe it has on the industry.

Replies12

  • I saw the photographer gallery backlash - I have mixed opinions on it.

    I'd say the skillset is more creative directing and art direction, you are putting in prompts to get a machine to create something for you. Kind of like a director getting a film crew to shoot what they want. So there is definitely skill in arriving at the final destination of image/video whatever it is.

    I don't have a problem with people sharing their A.I work and think it's really interesting to see what people/AI can create together but I think the photographers gallery sharing it is what the issue was. There's whole sites and galleries and exhibitions that are geared at digital art and this is where they could go. A photography gallery is not the right place, the same as you wouldn't hang a painting up in a photography exhibition.

    A.I definitely has it's uses - I think it's a very useful tool in the beginning stages of projects, you can use it to show clients images or ideas of how you want to shoot something or experiment with lighting to see how it may work in the real thing but for me, this is where it ends.

    I kinda disagree with people selling a.i art images when there is still so many questions about where the a.i is sourcing things from - people are basically selling other peoples artwork and it's all v messy but as long as you're just using it as a tool for your own work improvements it's fine. It's just not really an art form imho.


  • As we move closer to a future where AI is deeply embedded in more aspects of our work, it is wise to start preparing for this now. Creatives and creators should begin to collectively assess where they spend the most time on non-creative tasks.
  • While rather wary about the longer term implications. in the short term there are certainly benefits to for creativity and productivity. The good:

    I have used it to illustrate to a client how some of their copy could be rewritten so as to be more engaging for their target audience, without having to spend an hour doing an, un paid for, rewrite.

    I have used it to help improve some of my own copy.
  • I don't mind it, it's pretty cool from a technical stand point. However, it needs to be regualted because I am already hearing of cases where people are just feeding the creative work of other creatives and using the work it spits out.

    Obviously this is wrong for so many reasons. But other than that, if people want to be less invovled in the creative process and jsut want end results then, have at it. It's not nearly as rewarding haha.
  • Hello I’m Mehmet
    I am a freelance graphic designer and art director who has worked with global and regional brands for many years. Works with advertising agencies and individual brands in general. I have received awards from EDWARDS and AIGA competitions. Some brands i have worked with; with Adidas Originals Puma and Spotify. For more detailed information about me: https://linktr.ee/mehmetkirlangic
  • I find it a little strange that you will also use technology to further your ends and meet your goals yet this incarnation of technological advancement is abhorant to you. If you want to create without credit or influence, without help, without input of any kind, without accumulated kowledge, without understanding processes, techniques, technology and methods honed and developed by other people... I'd like to see you try. The problem in terms of creativity is defining ownership and the ability to make money; the ability to exploit methods of production and the commoditisation of creative output.

    Come on... how many of you use some aspect of a computer to further your creative ends... why is this not 'cheating'?

    The answers to this do not lie in being the new 'luddites' they lie in a fundamental shift in how we operate as human beings.

    AI doesn't undermine the very human need to create. It changes the modes by which we might choose to create.

    Unfortunately the mechanisms of commerce exploit the 'creative' to attain points of wealth. Please do not think for one minute that you stand in some pre-technological summit where only your personal creative output matters... that all creativity is by your own hands entirely, or that you operate by some benevolent behaviour where you continually credit everyone for the position you have reached or the work you have produced.
  • Everything I've seen AI create visually already looks vaguely familiar - no matter now impressive, it's fundemetally the result of harvesting other peoples work (without credit). There are already questions about the emerging racial bias within AI image creation, and the problem that AI can create slander and hate speech - but nobody really knows how to deal with it or who is responsible. AI is a tool - that's all, it's not the creator.
  • Artists are living human beings, and so what they produce is a product of what they believe in, what they’ve trained years for and what they’re trying to say. That’s an important part of the creative industries, an important part of why we love art right?

    Accepting and using AI is the same as openly saying that all that stuff doesn’t really matter. AI takes the work of human artists to generate a product which is not original - it’s a complete violation of their work and copyright.

    If you want a quickly and efficiently generated final product which can be bought, sold and consumed almost immediately, no matter how it was made or who it was made by - you’re cheating. You’re thinking of making products and money from as little as possible.

    Why work in the arts if you have absolutely no intention of interacting with / supporting / acknowledging the people who keep your industries moving with their creativity and ideas?
  • It’s definitely impressive to see the things that it generates but it’s not art in my opinion. It lacks the vision, story and intention that human creations have. Also having an AI piece of work win a photography competition isn’t ethical I believe. That’s like handing a reward to someone that didn’t know they even had a horse in the race.
  • It presents itself as a seismic shift in how we do things things. I am not sure the reality matches the hype or general upset... yet. What is does present is potential changes in value of certain output - creative or otherwise. The problematic element is that we already value the wrong part a process or endeavour. We hang what we do as an end result - as a commodity in the vending machine of capiltalism - or a mechanism by which we feed and dispense stuff through that machine.

    What I am essentially saying is that if we contunue to merely value the end result, and getting to the end result can be shortened (i.e cheaper) by the new tools we use then of course they will get used for that purpose.

    AI in it's current form is arguably not really AI and simply offers of very sophicated toolset of programming, datamining and probability - and we don't really know what it's going to do jobs and the economy. We do know that any historiccal technological advance with this kind of impact will affect poeple's day to day choices - and even irradicate the requirement for certain industries and roles. It's not new in that respect.

    Anyone who thinks by some moral highground we should all refuse to use new technology should look at the themselves in wider historical context - it might be a hard thing to do but some of us are going to have to adapt... mentioning no names...

    In terms of art - AI plays the same role - value the end result and it might be able to get there quicker, more easily and cheaper. But value the process, the human endeavour and it can be a tool for some as yet unknown amazing creative journey.

    Don't be afriad...

    (I am using AI extensively in my day to day work and it will form an important part of a new alternative postgraduate new media art course I am developing on the back of a years research)

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