Can AI Art Generators and Artists Co-Exist?

Has the creative industry finally met its match? Proponents of AI art generators seem to think so, now that art generators have proven themselves capable of producing award-winning pieces. Now that literally anyone with money to purchase an AI-programme can bypass years or even decades of training, it seems like the time has finally come for artists to hang up their pencils and brushes.

This technology is disrupting the art industry as we speak. A quick Google search will pull up hundreds of individuals who have already laid claim to the title of AI artists, people who trade AI-generated artwork. For seasoned artists, illustrators, and designers, this poses a direct threat to their profitability and relevance, as their AI-powered competitors are now capable of generating more pieces of artwork, at lower cost.?

The question on the top of everyone’s minds right now is surely whether AI can be as detailed as seasoned artists, who use a combination of experience, technique, and empathy to produce artwork that meets or even exceeds client expectations. Can AI really be that meticulous and accurate at the same time by simply following instructions off a simple prompt?

Firstly, what are AI art generators?

As Sun Tzu famously said, “Know thy enemy”. Understanding how AI generators like Dall-E and Midjourney work is quintessential for creatives wanting to stay ahead of the game.

AI art generators operate on diffusion models, which is a complicated way of saying that they are trained to recognise and understand an unimaginable amount of image data, which they can then retrieve and piece together whenever a word prompt is typed into its system. For example, by typing the sentence “purple apple thrown at a tree”, the art generator would comb through the internet to find references for? “purple”, “apple”, “tree”, and “throw” respectively. The AI then puts together these references into a cohesive new image, usually giving the user several options to choose from based on settings that they have put in place. This is both good and bad. On one hand, AI won’t be able to draw something that isn’t already on the internet. That said, the internet is the world’s most comprehensive library of data in history, with a catalogue that is only growing larger with each second.?

Does this mean that anyone can be an artist?

This is not the first time the creative industry has been challenged. Similar levels of uproar were heard when the first digital camera went out on the market, as well as when Photoshop became widely available. More recently, SaaS tools such as Canva have simplified the process of cobbling corporate design posters even further. While streamlined workflows are always welcome, the threat posed to artists who rely on their work for a living is that many of their clients might decide to simply do it themselves — especially when all you need to generate some semblance of passable artwork is to type in a prompt.?

The question is, do artists even wish to work with clients who don’t appreciate the creative process in the first place? AI generators may be able to generate a good starting point, but it will still take someone with the sense and experience for colour balancing, detail, and even marketing to make touch up the artwork such that it's relevant to the target audience. This could involve minor tweaks or major overhauls — something that only professional artists will be capable of pointing out accurately.?

All this to say, that clients will truly be paying for what they get. If they can make do with, and only have the budget for, mass-produced work that can be made with minimal effort, then they probably aren’t worth a serious artist’s time in the first place.?

It’s not the tool, but the hand that wields it

Video journalist and non-artist Cleo Abram recently put the effectiveness of AI artwork to the test by pitting herself against professional designer Justin Poore. After an anonymous poll was conducted, Abram’s artwork ended up significantly less popular than Poore. While this anecdotal experiment is far from scientific, it goes to show that the potential of AI art generators can be far better fulfilled in the hands of an actual artist rather than a complete industry outsider.

Art quality aside, human intervention will still be necessary in ensuring that inherent bias within existing data sets are weeded out, not reproduced. Under-representation and mis-representation of gender, racial, sexual minorities, among others, will only reinforce themselves if artwork generated from imperfect data sets are allowed to go live without quality checks.??

All this to say, AI programmes may provide us with extra hands and legs to get more work done, but we will still need relevant experts around to ideate, create, and edit. So while the industry will definitely be undergoing some major overhauls, there’s no need to start panicking and running for the hills just yet. Just make sure that you stay up to date with how these technology are developing, and adopt higher level skills of creative strategy and planning, and we dare say that AI will hardly pose a threat to your livelihood.

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