Artificial intelligence is growing by leaps and bounds and more and more projects are able to create their own images by typing simple words. Are they art creators ?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a transformative force in every way, even in art .
This technology is generating such incredible illustrations that they are even winning international awards. And this is where the controversy comes in, are they really artists?
Midjourney , Dalle-E or Stable Diffusion are some of the current concrete examples for the creation of “meaningful” images, in which users can order robots to carry out their own works with just text. As in human beings, machines use “neurons” or generative networks to achieve their task.
The debate is on AI
Each human draws or captures their images differently, something that may be different in the case of robots. However, each of these systems is unique and maintains a style that is more than appealing.
The American justice has taken a radical position regarding the ownership of copyright.
In February 2022, researcher Stephen Thaler attempted to register a work of art called ‘A Recent Entrance to Paradise’, which he called “a simulated near-death experience”. However, the United States Copyright Office (USCO) denied him the patent on the grounds that it was created “by technological means without significant human intervention.”
This situation was a new attempt by Thaler to achieve it, since in 2019 he had also performed the procedure with the same result. At that time, the court determined that the fundamental requirement to protect a work of art was to have “human authorship”, which the artist considered unconstitutional.
Currently, the USCO has determined that “the nexus between the human mind and creative expression” is a fundamental element of copyright: for a work to be copyrighted, it “must be created by a human being.” and not exclusively by artificial intelligence.
your own category
The case has become relevant again after a work of art generated by artificial intelligence won first place in a competition in the United States. ‘Theatre D’opera Spatial’ won the trophy in the category of “digital arts/digitally manipulated photography”, in Colorado and the critics have not been long in coming.
In this situation, Jason M. Allen used the artificial intelligence called Midjourney, a system that uses words to create images from their text.
“Jason Allen, you are NOT an artist. You have never used real tools. Text messages only,” posted a social media user on Twitter after the news spread. “Midjourney can be fun, but it should never be used to fool other artists.”
In this case, the two judges assigned to the category were unaware that Allen’s submission was generated by artificial intelligence, but added that it would not have changed their decision as they were looking at “how art tells a story, how it invokes spirit.” .
Therefore, a solution to the problem has emerged: create art categories dedicated to artificial intelligence.
As the discussion continues, users can experience the creation process. In 2018, the work, “Portrait of Edmond de Belamy” was sold in New York for $400,000 after six minutes of bidding at the famous Christie’s auction house.
Currently, artificial intelligences have been fed with millions and millions of pieces of human effort and this information is being the basis for creating their own works. The question that remains is: Does AI create art or does it just process data?