Would artificial intelligence aided images go in digital art?

[amo]

I don't know where to put these kinds of images, but I do want to share. I plan to do some traditional art using AI images as reference, but my other work has kept me nailed to a computer, so I've been making digital art using AI art as a starting point. Anyway, I guess I'll start a thread here for them?

I don't mind sharing the AI art thread if anyone else wants to post their modified (or unmodified) AI art. The First image is what DALL-E gave me with the prompt "steampunk clockwork goldfish", and the second is the sticker/magnet pack I created for Redbubble. I'd be interested to know what you think. Is it art if a computer helped?

There's another thread in Art Talk on the same topic, by the way.

 

[E.J.H.]

"Is it art if a computer helped?"

Is it art if a photo helped?
Is it art if another piece of art helped?
Is it art if the dog helped?
Is it art if random chaos helped?
etc.

I would say "yes" to all those questions. So yeah, if you use AI or another computer process to make art I´d say sure, it´s art.

 

[ZenDruid]

What E.J.H. said. I would add that art is a human invention and the human mind directs and determines what art is. AI is still a tool, like a Digital Single Lens Reflex camera set on Auto to decide light values, exposure and white balance...but a human decided to set it that way. A wild landscape is random chaos but a human takes a piece of it and calls it art. Computer art is a selective human decision making process, it is definitely art.

 

[amo]

Thanks for the feedback. My feelings are similar to those of you, EJH and ZenDruid.

I'm kind of obsessed with the possibilities of AI at the moment. But I remember being obsessed with my camera and my oil pastels, etc., etc. Doesn't feel different

 

[Enyaw]

I agree. Art is art and if you aid or are aided it doesn't matter in the least. The end result: art.

 

[laika]

I guess I'm the odd-man-out with my unease regarding AI images, Angela. Let me stress that in our previous discussion, I intended to make clear that those feelings were mine alone and certainly not any kind of judgement on what others were doing. Actually, I've been back to play at artbreeder since the discussion And Hermes2020 was right: the collage tool over there is fun!

 

[laika]

Computer art is a selective human decision making process, it is definitely art.

That's the part that makes me a little uneasy: the machine does such fabulous work with just a whisper of input from the human. I guess I'm being paranoid

 

[ZenDruid]

That's the part that makes me a little uneasy: the machine does such fabulous work with just a whisper of input from the human. I guess I'm being paranoid

That's because the machines are looking at you.

 

[laika]

That's because the machines are looking at you.

Not helping, ZD. I hadn't even considered that!
We humans are but toast in the wind.

 

[ZenDruid]

Not helping, ZD. I hadn't even considered that!
We humans are but toast in the wind.

...toast in the wind...all we are is toast in the wind. I think I know that song.

 

[Desforges]

I am totally intimidated by AI.
We created it and it may create us all in the future.
I get that it is creating perfected images, better images that we could even dream of creating.
We are definitely toast in the wind, dust in the wind
It is our new reality. I remember getting excited when I took a course in silkscreening. I thought that it was pure magic. Creating layers of images advitam eternam over one another. No rules. Now we got it. Instant results, perfect ones.

ALL THIS TO SAY THAT IT IS ART.
And I am toast.
I remember my grandfather played a gramophone while he had me jumping on his knees.

 

[amo]

I guess I'm the odd-man-out with my unease regarding AI images, Angela. Let me stress that in our previous discussion, I intended to make clear that those feelings were mine alone and certainly not any kind of judgement on what others were doing. Actually, I've been back to play at artbreeder since the discussion And Hermes2020 was right: the collage tool over there is fun!

I'm not going to say that I don't have any reservations at all. Frankly, the edits I'm making to these last two images (the cartoon cat in the other thread and the steampunk goldfish in this thread) are rather minimal, at least visually. But when I think about the knowledge (composition, color/value, etc.) and skills (image editing software, drawing/painting digitally) that are involved in seeing what corrections and adjustments need to be made and making them and also the imagination required to request the right images from the AI, I think there is an art involved. It may fall closer to craft or design than fine art, but . . . well, it's never been the case that everything I make is fine art

 

[amo]

That's the part that makes me a little uneasy: the machine does such fabulous work with just a whisper of input from the human. I guess I'm being paranoid

What's the paranoia? I'm confused. Is the AI out to get you? Totally serious question. I am not trying to minimize your feelings, just trying to understand them.

 

[amo]

Sorry. Had to be done.

 

[ZenDruid]

Sorry. Had to be done.
View attachment 23688

I see a face emerging on #5....#6 is screaming....and #9 is laughing!

 

[laika]

What's the paranoia? I'm confused.

Well, I'm not terribly serious, but I'll give a string of related for instances: Once upon a time, I had some small skill in the darkroom, which led to photo lab work in commercial settings that kept me in housing and food for years. That period and set of skills dried up almost overnight with the arrival of digital photography. Later I found an odd niche job in the darkroom of an aerial mapper, which still required not-only old-fashioned darkroom work, but other skills that disappeared, again, almost overnight with the advent of easily-accessed digital satellite imagery.

Then, in the area of art/play, I learned to use PhotoShop-like tools to perform all kinds of digital imagery arcana. What I would work on for hours can now be done in seconds with simple filters from a free downloaded app for your phone. And now, AI is creating art at a skill level that far surpasses my scribblings, and I'm sure that somewhere the machines are making great art very nearly on their own even as I type this sentence. There is nothing that I could create that a machine couldn't create much better.

Anyway, maybe "disheartening" would be a better word than "paranoid," but now we're headed towards a place where a human could sneeze or yawn and an AI would create a sublime masterpiece from that tiny whiff of human input. And, of course, who knows - maybe the journey there and beyond will be a fun one.

 

[amo]

Well, I'm not terribly serious, but I'll give a string of related for instances: Once upon a time, I had some small skill in the darkroom, which led to photo lab work in commercial settings that kept me in housing and food for years. That period and set of skills dried up almost overnight with the arrival of digital photography. Later I found an odd niche job in the darkroom of an aerial mapper, which still required not-only old-fashioned darkroom work, but other skills that disappeared, again, almost overnight with the advent of easily-accessed digital satellite imagery.

Then, in the area of art/play, I learned to use PhotoShop-like tools to perform all kinds of digital imagery arcana. What I would work on for hours can now be done in seconds with simple filters from a free downloaded app for your phone. And now, AI is creating art at a skill level that far surpasses my scribblings, and I'm sure that somewhere the machines are making great art very nearly on their own even as I type this sentence. There is nothing that I could create that a machine couldn't create much better.

Anyway, maybe "disheartening" would be a better word than "paranoid," but now we're headed towards a place where a human could sneeze or yawn and an AI would create a sublime masterpiece from that tiny whiff of human input. And, of course, who knows - maybe the journey there and beyond will be a fun one.

Ahhh. All of that makes perfect sense to me. I have had similar experiences. (I'm 52.)

I remain convinced that art is born in the human heart and can't be made without it. And I think we "learn how to learn" in part as a result of changes in technology. And also there are concepts and skills that cross disciplines and media, so we don't lose everything when things change. Some things are still useful.

Wish I had time to say more, but I don't today.

 

[E.J.H.]

Well, I for one welcome our robot overlords...

 

[Hermes2020]

Well, I for one welcome our robot overlords...

Yes, they could never be worse than the human ones.

 

[snoball]

We all use aids of some sort in our art, I see no reason that AI assisted art is not indeed, art.