Controversial Corner: Personal thoughts on AI in The Arts

AI is, quite understandably, a hot topic in the media currently, and it seems that the average person cannot escape the many AI add-ons, features and plug-ins available for use on mobile devices and computers. But are these features helpful, or just another way for companies to market useless tools that do more harm than good?

I started my Bachelor of Digital Media in 2022, which was before AI seeped through the cracks of technology and gripped its tight tentacles around the world. I remember there were crude features on apps like Snapchat that would let you turn yourself into an anime character, or lack thereof, as these features were terrible and I would've had a better time editing my own features on Gimp or drawing myself than these filters did at replicating my facial features. This was all the way back in 2019. I didn't even consider how big AI would become, or the fact that it may completely threaten my degree and any future work that went with it, but I remained optimistic that my degree would land me a good job (spoiler alert: as of writing this 3 months post grad, I have not landed a job in my field).

We had a Photography unit in my second year as one of my electives. My lecturer, a lovely man named Brendan, was really keen to see what this new technology could do. Around this time, the viral created video of Will Smith eating spaghetti was going around and we all just thought it was funny. A technology this primitive couldn't cause any harm, right? My lecturer even had a premium subscription for a generative AI software and we were tasked with doing an exercise where we generated an image that replicated one we took in real life, and we had to say if we thought it had better or worse composition than the actual photo. I found this strange at the time, as I was always concerned about the rise of AI and how terrible it was at the time to use it to make things as I could often make something better and more meaningful than the AI could.

Now it's everywhere. Adobe utilises generative AI for photo expansion (note - I have used it and it's honestly terrible), Chat GPT writes students' assignments (despite this being against most academic integrity rules), companies use it to make ads and even as I'm typing this, the little "sparkle" icon looms next to my text, begging me to press it and generate my entire blog article. Unfortunately for the AI, I value creating new connections and learning skills that better me as a person. I have often been told I'm lazy, and I refuse to feed into this out of pure spite. Is this healthy? I would like to think so.

But that's not to say that all AI is bad. I truly believe that as a tool, AI could be useful to maximise workflows, collate information quickly and help in areas such as healthcare which benefits from efficient technologies. Aside from that, not all AI is (obviously) generative, and it can be used to detect cancer and revolutionise industries such as farming with interactive soil moisture monitors. This is the technological revolution I'd love to envision, but unfortunately we're stuck in an environmental catastrophe fueled by greedy, morally corrupt humans who delight in undressing little girls with Grok. AI has been at the forefront of numerous controversies, with social media accounts such as the White House account run currently by MAGA creating evil AI depictions of minorities being assaulted and harassed by ICE agents, all while people laugh and spread misinformation fueled by conflicting information sourced from Chat GPT. Media literacy is at an all time low, and apparently so is creativity in our late capitalistic utopia.

And yes, where does this leave the creatives? The artists, actors, models, singers and designers of the digital age? Some companies suggest that we can rule these positions useless by creating fake people to model for magazine covers, sing with voices that are not uniquely human and generate image after image of spliced together slop. For that is what AI is - a nothing pizza of toppings stolen from other chefs and thrown on a fake base. In Australia, at least, it is illegal for AI to be trained on people's copywritten material and this is a big win for artists who often spend years perfecting their artistry and style only for someone to come and steal their uniqueness and turn it into profit by churning out fake image after fake image. I may be biased here, as I am an artist and designer and someone who enjoys photography and physical media, such as records of artists who are real people. At least they create art with emotion from the human experience, and not stolen works schlopped together with a keyboard instead of a paintbrush. Artists are the backbone of our entertainment industry and if these jobs are phased out, then many people will stop consuming the "work" of these corporate companies and take their money elsewhere.

Of course, AI will never not be an environmental or political issue, with data centers spurring on Baby's First Water Drought, and people who were almost certainly doing unspeakable things with trafficked children on a certain island donating large sums of money to Chat GPT and possibly Grok, whose founder is a great example of someone who is also morally bankrupt and cringey to behold. Maybe once the villains of the world stop donating to this technology designed to numb creativity and push their anti-humanitarian propaganda on us all, and the data centres stop drinking water that I'd like to drink myself, then maybe I will consider using this technology. I like innovation, but this feels more like a weapon of destruction than a tool.

I stand by my view that AI could be used less harmfully. But I fully believe that there is no place for it in The Arts. I consume content made with soul, eat at the restaurant of human emotion and feast on the sound of music created by singers with passions and dreams like mine. I want to touch art, view the textures with eager eyes and smell the oil paints brushed lovingly on a canvas. I want experience photography and photojournalism about real events that matter to history, and watch movies with human actors who understand the emotions they're portraying. I want flesh, bone and blood, not a video of a person's likeness made to do despicable things.

AI could do incredible things. Not generative AI, but real artificial intelligence. Detecting things the human eye cannot detect. Organising things with precision. Optimising workflows for better business. Take jobs that are tedious to humans, not the things that make us human.

I prefer my art natural, not synthetic.