Give AI Art The Middle Finger
By Michal Gawlik, Arts and Literature Editor
Artificial intelligence has taken over the world in recent years, from improvement in healthcare diagnosis and treatment plans through better fraud detection to ChatGPT producing essays for students. AI has advantages and disadvantages depending on how humans decide to use it; it has unbelievable potential for technical innovation and should continue to be developed that way. The problem occurs when we finally realise that AI is not being used to take the pressure of work off of humans so they can pursue their hobbies and interests. On the contrary, AI is currently used to subdue the need for humans in artistic fields to gracefully allow them to work more.
As controversial as it may be, AI proves to be a danger to many of those in artistic professions, such as actors and animators. This year, we have witnessed a rise in AI-generated feature animation films such as Where The Robots Grow or Dreadclub: Vampire’s Verdict, with many more sure to come. The cost difference between creating an AI-generated movie instead of hiring professional animators is significant, which makes it so much more desirable to big companies who could not worry less about the people who have trained and studied for years to produce high-quality art. What makes it even worse is how AI creates its content by scouring the internet and various existing databases for art and melding it together to produce the desired outcome. The art it uses to fulfil the command belongs to - you guessed it - humans! People who have, in most cases, not given consent for their art to be used by artificial intelligence in creating images of people with too many or too few fingers, other such features that fall into the uncanny valley.
Unfortunately, the downfall of the artistic scene only begins here. Just like with every internet dispute, there are opponents to AI art and supporters who claim that the generated images are their own artworks because they are the ones who come up with the specific phrasing to feed the algorithm in order to create the image. From this point, at an incredible speed, we progressed into the world of AI art museums, the first being the Dead End Gallery in Amsterdam. On display, viewers can see AI-generated paintings, images, and installations created by AI-generated artist Irisa Nova who proclaims herself to be the first AI artist in the world. In this incredibly controversial case, not only is the art not made by a human, but the artist behind it is AI as well! People have vastly different opinions that range from ‘fraudulent farce which infringes on copyright’ to ‘I like to look at it, it’s decorative. Someone will certainly be willing to pay some money for it’, as reported by Euronews. The madness does not stop there as there are plenty more museums powered by similar concepts in the works, such as Dataland, set to open in Los Angeles in 2025, with the rather significant difference of being powered by renewable energy sources.
At this time, unrenewable energy sources are powering most AI-generated content, and AI’s growth in power consumption is increasingly becoming more critical. ‘As each new generation boosts computing performance, it also consumes more power than its predecessor, meaning that as shipment volumes rise, so does total power demand’ as brought up by Kindig for Forbes magazine. An increased demand for power comes hand-in-hand with consequences for the climate, as it has been noted that the carbon footprint that AI generates exceeds that of the aviation industry, ultimately leaving humanity in a worrying position in the fight against climate change.
Despite all its downsides, artificial intelligence remains the first choice for marketing companies due to its supposed cost efficiency. This year, we have welcomed the first-ever AI-generated Coca-Cola Christmas commercial - however, most have not welcomed it with open arms. Many have spoken out on several different platforms (X, Instagram, etc.) about the commercial being distorted, fake, and generally unpleasant to watch. Coke’s famous phrase ‘It’s always the real thing’ does not seem so applicable anymore, and anyone will notice something is off about the movement of people in the advertisement, with fingers and faces being too smooth or too still for a human, and not to mention the distortion of some frames. The holiday cheer brought by Coca-Cola trucks driving through a snowy town and Santa Claus gifting bottles of coke is no longer recognised as something enjoyable to watch: ‘I feel like I’m watching the death of art and our planet unfold in front of my eyes and no one irl seems to care [sic],” wrote X user @MoistyJc followed by many other users speaking out on or even boycotting Coca-Cola this Christmas season.
It is hurtful to see a company known for its heartwarming, spirited Christmas ads so quickly transition from hiring actors and renting studios to create this magical atmosphere to using AI content simply to save money. Despite the fake snow and not-always-perfect costumes, it was the people who made it enjoyable in the first place and brought this irreplaceable Christmas cheer into houses across the world. Though each year, the advertisement may become tedious after a few weeks of playing non-stop during commercial breaks, but this year, no one needed more than thirty seconds of watching the spot to grow tired of it.
As far as content goes, adults are quite capable of recognising AI-generated images and videos, though we cannot say the same for children. In recent years, there has been a rapid growth in content made for children that’s being generated by AI - in particular, YouTube videos. People have figured out one way to make easy money: by asking AI to create a simple video for children, for example, about counting with cartoon characters and some generic music in the background. Children, especially those under the age of five, do not seem to care what is being played on their iPads as long as the video is visually and acoustically stimulating, thus generating views and likes for ‘creators’ who do not really care about what content the children are being fed with as long as they are making a profit.
The more we use AI, the smarter it is supposed to get, but we are a long way from AI being able to grasp the concept of human feelings and motivations if it ever will at all. The art scene is being destroyed by meaningless paintings, pictures, and images created by AI (or AI artists) that has been trained off of the work of unconsenting artists. Yes, ChatGPT will write an essay for you and generate some prompts. GenAI will definitely make an image of whatever you desire to see, but it will all be at the cost of real peoples’ work and a whole lot of energy. So next time, before using Artificial Intelligence, think about how much work it would take you to do on your own, the satisfaction you will feel after completing the task and the energy you will save while helping fight climate change. Appreciate real artists trained to create one in a million artworks and give AI the middle finger.
You can find a very well made, informative video with more examples of the disadvantages of AI use on the internet right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UShsgCOzER4
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