Quick! AI is coming! Gather the children and cats and head for the shelter!
Okay, so it’s not that bad, but you’d think it was, considering the way that some people behave. Nevertheless, there is a certain metaphorical smashing of the looms going on, especially amongst the artistic community.
Well, I’m here to tell those people not to worry, AI isn’t going to smother you in your sleep and steal your studio. Not yet, anyway.
NOTE: Just for fun, all the images used in this article were created by me, using AI. I’ve included the AI prompt in the caption.
Yes, I create AI “art”
In the spirit of full disclosure, I’m going to admit that I use AI tools to create images quite often. The simplest use I have for AI is asking Adobe Photoshop to extract the image of my pretty face from a video still, so that I can use it to make a YouTube thumbnail. Without AI, I’d have to spend a long time with a lasso tool, clicking around the edges.
My most important use of AI tools though, is to create feature images for articles that I write and publish on sites like this one right here. My primary focus is writing the article, but I still want it represented by an image that captures its essence better than some cheesy stock photo.
If I were a great artist, I might consider drawing the feature image myself, so that I can perfectly encapsulate the words I’ve written in visual form. Sadly, I’m not, so I need an alternative, and that’s where AI comes to my aid.
With AI, I no longer have to use a generic photo that somehow, sorta, kinda, reflects the theme of my article, but gives it the tone of a corporate brochure. Now, I can condense all those words into one perfect visual masterpiece. Well, that’s the theory, anyway.
Trust me, at this point in time, if I had the ability to draw well enough to create my own feature images for my articles, I would.
1000 monkeys working at 1000 easels
The other day, I wanted to create a feature image for an article I’d written. The article was only 1000 words, but it had a specific theme that I wanted the feature image to capture. In my head, I knew exactly what elements I wanted the picture to show, and I even had an idea of the composition I wanted. Could I get the AI art tool to realise my artistic vision though? Could I hell!
I had to produce over 50 AI images before I finally got to the one that I ultimately used to accompany my article. I tweaked the AI text prompt numerous times, trying to explain as clearly as I could what I wanted to see. Even then though, the final image didn’t really match the image that I’d initially had in my head. When paired with my article, the image worked, but it really didn’t represent it much better than a stock photo would have.
I came up against the same hurdle when writing my next few articles. In order to produce 3 AI images for 3 different articles, I had to generate over 200 AI images in total, and none of them completely matched my artistic vision. I didn’t drive the AI to produce what I wanted, the AI drove me to settle for something less than what I wanted.
If I possessed the ability to draw well enough, I would have done, even if it was just to draw a basic seed image that I could feed the AI as a guide to base its visual composition upon.
I believe this highlights why true artists currently have nothing to fear from AI and the people who use it.
Wait, artists have nothing to fear from AI?
True artistic talent isn’t just how well you physically produce an image.
It’s the vision.
It’s the artistic eye.
It’s the ability to know when something looks good, and when something looks bad.
It’s the ability to identify the subtle details that are the difference between an okay piece of lounge art and a masterpiece.
AI can figure out what an elephant drinking at a waterhole on the African plains looks like, but it doesn’t know how to make that image a masterpiece. It struggles with the subtleties. AI can draw a human, but it can’t recreate many emotions beyond an obvious smile, frown, or scream. Ask it to draw you a smile tinged with sadness and it may struggle. That’s where the artistry of the user comes in.
If you want another example, consider how painters felt when the photographic camera was invented, nearly 200 years ago. The camera gave people with no painting or drawing talent the ability to accurately produce an image of anything that can be seen with the human eye. Nowadays, a huge number of people are walking around with a camera in their pocket, and approximately 5 billion photos are taken everyday.
Has the influx of cameras turned everybody into an artist? Of course not. Despite nearly 200 years of camera evolution, most people still produce photos that look like amateur trash.
Imagine two people stood on a hill, looking out at an amazing view. They are both holding the exact same camera, however, one has artistic vision, and one doesn’t. Do they both come away with the exact same photo? No, of course they don’t. The artist captures a great image, while the other person’s photo is only fit for their Facebook page.
Granted, a photographer without artistic vision can sometimes get lucky, but the one with the talent is going to get more consistent results. I believe the same is true when working with AI.
When I was using AI to create a feature image for my article, why didn’t I just use the first one it produced?
Why did I discard 49 other images before settling on the one I finally used?
The reason was because I had the ability to determine what looked good to me and what didn’t. A professional fashion photographer may fire off a burst of several shots per second, but then spend time later closely inspecting each frame, looking for the perfect one. What they do with their artistic eye after they’ve put the camera down is equally as important as what they do with it in their hands.
AI tools still need an artist
This is why I say that true artists have nothing to fear from AI. AI is a tool, just like cameras are a tool.
It’s somewhat ironic that photographers, who were probably once looked upon by portrait and landscape painters as untalented amateurs, are now feeling the threat of AI art. Personally, I don’t think they should feel threatened.
AI art has its place, and “real” art has its place. The sort of person who wants a watercolour portrait in their home isn’t going to settle for a digital print of a 12-fingered person. Likewise, the sort of person who wants a print of a “hot anime chick” for their bedroom wall probably isn’t going to be bidding on a Rembrandt any time soon.
Even when AI art does reach maturity, the market will decide what it wants. Sure, there will be those who want throwaway images to post on social media as memes. There will also be those who want the digital equivalent of the “female tennis player scratching her bum” poster to hang in their man-cave. However, there will also be those who want a professionally composed image that has been created through the eyes of a true artist.
Now, please excuse me, as I need to go and create two hundred AI images in the hope of finding five that work with this article.
