AI-Generated art vs. our attitude
Unless you’ve been living off the grid or you actively avoid social media, you’ve probably noticed AI-generated art making waves all over your LinkedIn feed. I’ve noticed some designers are absolutely giddy about sharing their new creations, while others are refusing to jump on the bandwagon, fearing for their jobs.
Nearly every day, it seems a new company emerges with its own version of AI-powered art, creating imagery that captures our hearts and blurs the line between computer-capabilities and human imagination. Midjourney, DALL-E 2, NightCafé, dream, and Stable Diffusion are just a few of the players with their hat in the ring. Want to see a Cubist representation of Hercules riding a bike through the woods? How about an avant-garde painting of Ariana Grande bungee jumping from your local sports stadium? Or do you fancy a dog driving a motorcycle across a tight rope in the style of Neo-Impressionism? Boom.
I was especially shocked to find out that a portrait of a man, developed entirely using AI, was created more than four years ago in 2018 by the Paris-based arts-collective, Obvious (Image 1). It sold for a whopping $432,500 — proving that AI can serve beyond conceptual work and actually deliver a finished product.
And the technology is available to the masses. This ease of access brings forth some uncomfortable questions. If people can create high quality images on their own, with little technical knowhow and little cost, are they going to need to hire a professional? Who is allowed to participate? Does it no longer take a degree or years of experience to develop a craft that has value? As the industry navigates these questions, one thing is certain, the more people talk about it, the more people will use it, and the more ubiquitous it will become.
First impression? Magic.
With all the fanfare, I decided it was time to try Midjourney for myself. “Dash from The Incredibles, wearing a lightning hat, glowing.” After I typed my first sequence into the Midjourney bot, I let out an audible squeal of excitement. Within ten seconds, I was presented with four options based on my input. I chose the bottom right option, and Midjourney began to up-res my image instantaneously. I was blown away by both the quality of the image and the speed of its output. It really does seem like magic. How can an algorithm create something so expressive and polished without the hours of painstaking work that a human would devote to creating a similar painting? This question raises many eyebrows and produces a mixture of emotions among casual and professional artists alike.
There is an ongoing debate about whether or not this content can be considered real art. And that’s a good point, isn’t it? What is art? And do these AI-generated images fall under that category, or not? Fascinated, impressed, and terrified all at once, I was dazzled by what I was able to make by simply typing a few sentences. I was presented with visuals that perfectly captured what I was dreaming up in my head. I even found myself wanting to frame many of the images in my apartment for guests to see…
Continue reading at shinebox.com/challenger
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