Art, existing for over 30,000 years, stands as one of humanity’s oldest triumphs of consciousness—an unparalleled expression of thought and creativity uniquely within the human
Relatively recently, technology has been integrated into this process—AI, or artificial intelligence, which mimics human thinking, generating a lot of ‘unique’ and non-unique, valuable and worthless artworks.
In our contemporary society and in our limited time, the evolution of art has taken a transformative turn with the start of the large-scale use of artificial intelligence (AI). We would probably have witnessed a completely different equation if the use of AI had been predominant for research and researchers, but it seems that the locomotive that wants to generate ideas and perhaps new cognitive processes can no longer stop the speed, but even more periodically increasing the speed.
…and as technology gets crazy, and it evolves, it evolves… people seem to be left in awe as in the story of Sleeping Beauty Only this time waiting for the prince generated by AI to come and wake her through a kiss, or some other form of artificial understanding, or maybe we’re waiting to implant a chip in Sleeping Beauty’s brain to figure out what she’s been dreaming about all this time?
However, we return the problem and dilemma of this artificial intellect despite the hype and mysticism that still surrounds artificial intelligence and its tools, at the moment they actually form an ethical and legal basis for technological novelty to smoothly enter everyday use.
The ability to train and re-train along completely different databases can give absolutely amazing results, and therefore new areas of its application. As algorithms increasingly influence how we perceive the world, the ways in which we begin to function and act could arouse curiosity, and even envy, for those following Pavlov’s experiments.
Imagine AI as the modern-day Pavlov, tinkering with our notions of creativity through systematic conditioning. Like Pavlov’s dogs, we, the artists and aficionados, find ourselves salivating over a new kind of stimulus—one generated not by instinct or inspiration alone but by meticulously coded algorithms.
Users engage in a perpetuum mobile cycle of registration, where each interaction births a novel algorithm endowed with its distinct conditioning.
And the technology that promises the huge advancements: the hand of tech-creation will evolve, from 8 fingers to 7 fingers, and then to 6 fingers, and Eureka, finally to a revelation-five (5) fingers on one hand! Such a historical progress… Previous-gen artists would be jealous, indeed. Ok, we have to give technology its merits: Who needs human intentionality when you have a supercomputer remixing centuries of artistic tradition?
The question reverberates through the corridors of creative discourse, challenging us to reconsider the boundaries of human ingenuity and the role of technology therein.
Human civilization has continuously adapted its collective aesthetic sensibilities in response to technological advances, permanently redefining what constitutes artistic excellence as new tools emerge. It is very clear our future aesthetic preferences will differ significantly from today’s.
Claims that core values in art appreciation will remain steadfast, emphasizing enduring qualities that transcend technological change are clear speculation. Moreover, the advancement of technology is redefining our perceptions of simplicity and complexity in art. What once required complex human skills and emotional depth can now be executed with computational precision.
The art undergoes a profound transformation in the face of technological innovation and also the criteria for discerning artistic merits evolve alongside AI capabilities, prompting a reassessment of traditional hierarchies in the art world.
And yes, we live that time in which art makes us argue, worry, wonder, admire and sincerely rebel. But does it leave us indifferent? Far from it.
We find ourselves at a crossroads in which our minds think often unanswered questions, because predictions, probabilities are also changing. so, what do we have to do?
Amidst this uncertainty, one certainty prevails: the ongoing AI experimentation within the forms of art carries profound implications for both creativity and culture.
Given my preference against using the term “AI revolution in art,” I propose adopting the paradigm of AI’s transformative effect on art, signalling a significant shift with profound implications for creativity and cultural dialogue. This paradigm invites exploration into novel collaborations or new partnerships between humans and machines, in order to discover and creating uncreated vision. I could say create the uncreated.