Does AI Have a Place in the Arts?

And if it does, what role does generative AI play?

by Chanel Thorpe

Image by Haley Krawczyk

We talk about AI practically every day. We hear about it on the news, in terms of how well ChatGPT stocks are doing compared to China’s Deepseek. We hear about it in the classroom, where professors encourage us not to use it on assignments. We might also be using it ourselves, whether that’s on assignments or for any other reason, like writing an email or some sort of description for an internship, both of which are quick and easy examples of AI usage. But rarely do we think to talk about AI's role in the art world. As someone who creates digital art, here and there, I’ve found myself reading posts and tweets about other digital artists who are increasingly getting frustrated with either their art being fed into AI, by viewers or “fans,” or with fans who use AI to explain a concept of something they want the artist to commission for them. Most people may not think about whether or not the use of AI is really that significant in the art scene, but it is. 

The creation and sharing of art all directly relate to human emotion and human touch. It is often a way to convey emotion from one human to another or one human to many others. This goes for many art forms: painting, digital art, music, writing, etc. I think the question many may have is, “Well what if I can’t tell that it was made by AI, and yet, I still enjoyed it and took something from it?” There is still a loss of connection between you and another human being when consuming that piece of art. Not only that, but you have also consumed a version of “art” that is a copy and probably an uncredited version of someone else’s real art. In this case, the “art” made by AI has taken over another piece of art made by a human being. The human connection is gone. 

In Stephanie Kirmer’s Medium article titled, Art and AI, she uses an example of two artists who copied another artist’s art techniques, for the sake of commentary on the culture of reusing pre-existing concepts, relating it to the use of AI in a similar context. However, Kirmer instead said, “Commenting on other people’s work (or on the culture at large) is an important part of art through the ages. In the case of generative AI, unfortunately, that message is often absent.” AI cannot provide a comprehensive message that will truly be relevant or relatable to us as humans. That in itself gives reason as to why AI doesn’t have a place in the arts. AI may be far too logical for it to convey something as complex as an emotion, especially when it is put in the form of art, something else that can also be quite intricate.