Data is the new… art?

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The impact of AI on art has led to a number of fascinating discussions: could it empower a new generation of artists ? Should artists be able to copyright AI generated art ? Is AI generated art even art at all ? The cultural, legal and philosophical implications of new technology and art are potentially huge, but in all of the hype around the beginning of a new age of digital art, we could be missing a key topic of discussion: the data that underpins AI art could have far wider uses than simply generating new images…

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Perhaps the most obvious way in which AI and digitalisation is transforming art is through new automated tools which work alongside artists to help create images. These range from the more subtle inbuilt AI tools in popular programs like Photoshop, to much bigger standalone tools which can generate or improve whole images. Empowering budding artists with AI can help to democratise art, allowing more people than ever before to create their own art and supporting a new generation of aspiring creatives.

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Of course, the use of AI to assist in the creation of images, or to generate entire images, isn’t without controversy. This controversy stems from the data that is used to underpin these generative AI models: in order to create the art, large language models are using the data from images created by real human artists to copy specific styles. Many in the art community argue that this is unfair to the original artists, who have had their data taken and used to create entirely new images, potentially without prior permission. Is this a form of copyright infringement or, worse, a breach of data ethics?

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It's a grey area, and there are undoubtedly two sides to this story: artists throughout human history have used those who came before them as inspiration for their own creations, so why shouldn’t we allow those using AI to also draw on art that has already been created? This is where the ethics of data use really comes into its own and, from what I can see, this is only the beginning of the philosophical debate around AI in art.

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Despite the above, the digitalisation of the art world hasn’t just brought moral dilemmas for existing artists. In fact, there are multiple ways in which digitalisation has improved use of data will actually improve the experience of both artists and collectors.

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Take digital verification through technology like NFTs as just one example. Whilst NFT technology seemed to have a sort of false start last year, the application of the technology in the art world has the potential to be transformative. The ability for collectors to digitally verify the art that they buy will make the process of high-end collecting much safer by improving trust in transactions: certificates of authenticity can be faked in a way that blockchain-enabled verification simply can’t.

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As well as improving verification of art for collectors, there’s no reason why digital technology can’t be used to help artists receive fair recompense for their work. The music industry already uses technology to pay artists royalties when their songs are played on public radio or at events and, with NFT technology, the same system of royalties could also be used to pay visual artists. There is an ongoing debate about whether NFTs should be used to pay royalties to artists: as this article explains, a policy of donating a percentage of the resale fee of NFT art to the creator has polarised opinion, with artists obviously in favour of the policy whilst tech purists argue that digital ownership shouldn’t be materially different to physical ownership. Whether you agree or disagree with the payment of artist royalties, the mere fact we are able to have this conversation is only possible thanks to the increasing digitalisation of the art world.

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Data unlocks a huge amount of potential in the world of art, from empowering a new generation of creatives to create incredible works of art regardless of technical skills, to improving verification of artwork and even unlocking the ability to enforce royalty payment to artists. There are a number of philosophical, legal and cultural arguments to be had over where the line should be drawn in digital art, but one thing is for sure: the data-powered genie is now out of the bottle, and the art world will never be the same again.