I find the AI Art debate very interesting. Should it be praised as art? Is it a cheap ripoff that cheapens the “real deal”?
I don’t know. All I know is I’ve seen AI art so beautiful and unique that I can’t bring myself to condemn it. I like what I’m seeing. I still respect the commitment to “real” art. I like both. Is it wrong to like both?
In my opinion the discussion is (or should be) less about the quality, because it is continuously getting better. While that trend will almost certainly not continue indefinitely, i believe the bigger issue is ethics.
Pretty much all popular image generating models are based on countless artworks by real artists, which were used without the artists consent.
Additionally, training and using such models requires enormous amounts of electricity, which is in direct opposition to our attempts to reduce carbon emissions.
Finally, the goal of artistry is usually not the artwork itself but rather the process of creating it. To an artist painting on a canvas is infinitely more enjoyable than typing something in a textbox.