In this week’s pathfinding session we are exploring Artificial Intelligence (AI) generated art within the realm of poetry and AI image generators, such as DALL-E and Midjourney.
The article assigned for this week, How Will AI Image Generators Affect Artists?, discusses the controversy surrounding the use of AI-generated art, particularly in the context of the Colorado State Fair’s art competition, where the winning entry was created by the AI app called Midjourney. While some technology enthusiasts applauded the achievement, many artists were critical and concerned about the implications of this technology. One of the main issues raised was that the databases of these image generators are largely built off existing images from artists, both dead and alive, which raises questions about fair use and the potential replacement of human artists. This proves that although AI generators can produce images, the ideas come from those of a human artist. I mentioned in my blog post a couple of weeks back that:
While AI has an impact on creative work, it will not replace human writers and artists. Instead, the impact is somewhere in the middle, where AI can aid and complement human creativity but never be able to replicate the personal and interpersonal nature of human communication.
Similarly, the other article assigned, Can AI Write Authentic Poetry?, expresses similar concerns about AI generators like Chat-GPT. The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) has prompted discussions on its impact on art and creativity, particularly in poetry generation. Although poetry may not seem significant in comparison to AI’s broader effects on society, it serves as an early indication of AI’s challenge to human creativity. Despite computers generating poetry since the 1960s, the recent advancements in AI have led to more sophisticated programs utilizing mathematical discipline, statistics, and deep learning. However, its ability to generate aesthetically pleasing and compelling poetry is still limited. As we experimented with Chat-GPT generating poems a couple of weeks ago, we concluded that while AI can generate vast amounts of material, it has yet to fully grasp the human voice, intent, and meaningful experiences that human poets bring to their work.
