For a long discussion about whether or not AI art is “art”, there is very little attention given to the actual definition of “art” until here
I think there is a reflexive distaste for AI images and therefore a general rejection of them as art. But I can easily imagine definitions of art where AI art is included and definitions where it is not. I think it’s less about the question of what qualfies as “art” and more about what AI art lacks that other art doesn’t. For example, the primary reason why submitting AI art to an art contest is wrong is because the creative vision, composition, colours; all the artistic skill and merit was not performed by the submitter. Not because of a semantics game where AI art doesn’t qualify as art.
Again, it will depend on the definition of art and I have no strong stance either way because I don’t have a strongly held opinion on what the definition of art is.
The one thing I’ll mention is that history suggests this problem is not new. Lots of technological advances over time have moved tasks that were solely in the realm of artists to something more utilitarian. The printing press and digital printing allowed books to be created without needing to hand scribe and paint the pages. Cameras allow instantaneous image capturing of people and landscapes that used to only be possible by painters and portrait artists.
In these examples, what ends up happening is a delineation of art and utility. We produce books at scale but people still practice calligraphy. I would consider the photos on my phone to be more utilitarian than artistic but people still paint portraits and landscapes. For better or for worse (and I think many will say for worse) the production of digital images has become/will continue to become a utilitarian task. I’m not going to wade into the morality of how it happened (theft vs learning, there are active legal battles on this) and I really do feel bad for digital artists who’s work is now effectively devalued as a consequence. But I think over time there will be a delineation of doing digital art as an artform vs the utilitarian act of, say, quickly producing an image for a presentation you have to give. Basically filling in the role of clipart or google images.
Again, I really want to make it clear that I’m not making a value judgment. Just trying to get to the reality of the situation we find ourselves in. There’s an accessibility feature about AI images I like while simultaneously feeling really bad for graphic artists.