AI Artwork: The Future of Art?

If you’ve journeyed onto the popular social media platform TikTok in the past year, chances are that you’ve seen some form of AI-generated artwork. Watching people record themselves using popular AI services such as DALL-E Mini or even TikTok’s own AI generation services has become quite popular.The programs that have become popular allow users to type words into an AI website and have art come out of it.From Google saying that it was at “peak popularity” (a score of 100/100 on Google Trends) to influencers such as Markiplier and jacksepticeye gaining millions of views from their YouTube videos on AI artwork in June, it is clear to see that AI-generated artwork becoming a highly talked about topic on the internet.

Although to the public, AI artwork may seem like a bright new future for technology that is fun for social media, it has revealed a dangerous new reality where artists do not exist. This is because of the capabilities of the programs today. Programs such as DALL-E Mini have already advanced from their slow, clunky, and hard-to-use beta versions to fast, easy-to-use, and revolutionary complete editions (or, in the case of DALL-E, their second version). So, with AI artwork becoming incredibly popular and easy, it begs the question of the future of art in general.

“AI art has an advantage over other artists and art forms because it requires even less artistic skill to create it,” WOHS art teacher Ms. Morante stated, “AI programs will do the work for you.” 

Ms. Morante defined art as “the expression of the inner human voice or soul.” This helped to lead Ms. M to believe that AI art can not be considered conventional “art” and doubled down on this statement when she said, “However, I do not think I will ever consider it ‘art’ in the same way that I consider it made from human hands.” So, with AI art not being considered real “art” it can make artists feel more secure about their jobs. However, artists shouldn’t rest easy quite yet.

According to a 2020 edition of the website, Will Robots Take My Job? there is only a 16% chance of artists being overtaken by robots. However, the up-to-date community of the website voted that there was a nearly doubled chance of an overtake (at 29%). Also, the seven-year-old NPR piece, “Will Your Job Be Done By A Machine?” Stated that artists have a 4.2% chance of being automated.

While the percentages of the chance of automation have all been low there is a pattern that the percentages are growing. The estimated percentage is growing by about 6% a year.

While it is unlikely that automation will take over the art industry, the chance is rising;as Ms. Morante said, “Who knows what the future holds!” For now, AI artwork is a fun tool for social media, and maybe in the future more.