The A Doesn’t Stand for Art

Elizabeth Smith ’29

There is a common debate on whether or not artificial intelligence is really art. Although it can write like a writer or produce like an artist, it ultimately cannot create anything original. The whole basis of A.I. is that it takes other peoples’ work and transforms it into a new version of itself. This completely disregards what art means as art is an expression of your feelings, it’s the things you can’t say splattered onto a page. I think in a way as a society we have forgotten that the true meaning of expression isn’t the outcome, but the experience. The finished product might be the only thing us viewers can see about the art, but the artist is the only person who can capture the full meaning behind the work. Putting an automated machine as the “person” who can see the true meaning reveals to us the fact that A.I. isn’t art. 

It seems that time and time again there are constant debates over everything to do with artificial intelligence. Sure, there are scenarios where A.I. can be helpful, but it is undeniable that A.I. cannot produce art. It lacks all human connection to the piece that it has produced and cannot convey a real human emotion. The real problem here is that we are slowly getting desensitized to this use of A.I. and the more we use it, the less passion we will see from these artists. It is important that we recognize the issues with artificially produced art and appreciate the human art we have today.