Text Zein Karam

The discourse around AI generated art has been polarising. On one side of the ring, you have tech bros turning themselves into Studio Ghibli characters (reliving some lost childhood desire to play dress up or something?) and on the opposite side of the ring you’ve got everyone else sweating bullets and tugging at their collars as the sense of impending doom starts to seep in.

The issue around AI is generally that it is a large unknown to us, in terms of possibility and how it will affect our lives. The optimists hope that it will replace mundane day to day activities – like, you know, reading, writing, thinking, experiencing joy etc. Pessimists see an apocalypse on the horizon and heed warnings of illiteracy and reduced brain activity, or that it is some sort of psycop to keep the rich richer and the poor poorer. I wonder where they got that idea?

To reduce this unknown, we reached out to three digital artists, (@Aylamortada, @ramaduwaji and @sarahmelawad) to get their insights into AI. Following on from the reaction to the Studio Ghibli fiasco, we wanted to hear exactly why people are angry, and above all else concerned.

How has AI impacted you as a digital artist – both professionally and creatively?

⁠Ayla: It has encroached upon our sphere without any of our consent, with it I can’t but see that it comes with a lot of bad faith, I.e I can’t fully know if I lost a gig because my fee was too high and the client figured AI could probably do what I do for a fraction of the cost. I can’t know for sure if someones project was completed solely by their own artistic suffering or was it an amalgamation of the work of all artists out there that feed AI’s knowledge. I hope there will be a market that will value pure human art and not celebrate tech bro mediocracy

Rama: So far, it hasn’t affected me professionally in any drastic way, other than when I see news outlets use AI for editorial art that accompanies articles and I look at that and think… what artist missed out on that job? Could have been me, but in the end it doesn’t matter. It’s just bad taste.

Creatively, AI just pushes me to do better. It’s like when a hater says you can’t do something and it makes you want to do it even more. It pushes me to experiment, pursue mixed mediums and play more with physical ceramic sculpture. This odd obsession with AI will just forever remind me that it will never amount to a hand made thing made by an artist.

Sarah: It has made me reflect a lot about why I do what I do and how I choose to make. I view a lot of my art work as love letters that I put out into the world. AI lacks the ability to share emotions through art work in that same way, and so it also is a reminder to me to not let my work become so generative that it loses that very human aspect of it.

On a professional level, I think I can see how with time people will opt for AI over working with real artists and designers because its cheaper or does exactly what they tell it, although that definitely holds its own issues.

Creatively, AI is yet to phase me. I haven’t seen anything made by AI that I thought was beautiful yet. I’m sure it’s bound to happen at some point but that still won’t override the fact that it is soulless and art is inherently very human.

Do you see a world where AI and any kind of artistic medium can exist together?

Ayla: Sure, seeing that they already do. People are using AI to sketch ideas for them, to conceptualise architectural structures, to redecorate interior spaces. Without anyones consent AI is creeping into the art world whether within the process or in the final outcome of art. But can they exist in a way where they wont outshine the artist is the question. In my opinion theres no way to use AI ethically, it has no place in art, I do see it beneficial in medicine, civil engineering, problem solving hefty information, but it does not belong to the creative sphere

Rama: I am seeing it in real time unfortunately and it makes my skin crawl.

I understand how AI can be used as a helpful tool in many aspects of life, like in medicine or tech. But when it’s treated as a replacement for real human touch and stories, I’m extremely uninterested. I also find the rhetoric that AI makes art more accessible so lazy. I don’t believe that art needs to be done the hard way to be considered art — after all I literally use digital mediums that people see as the lazy version of pen & pencil — but at the same time it’s at the cost of the livelihood of artists, not to mention the environment.

There’s a world of authentic, talented artists at your fingertips, waiting to be given a chance and if anything technology has made it easier to find them. The only thing AI in art makes accessible is more time to count all the money you would have otherwise spent on compensating a hard working artist.

Sarah: I unfortunately see that slowly becoming the case. Technology as a whole has always had an influence on art. I am interested in the ways tools of technology can be used to help artists create their work rather than attempt to replace artists, and I curious about the ways AI could become that.

Have you dabbled in AI? If yes, thoughts?

Ayla: I dabbled in AI art when programs like dali first came out, seeing I was working in the art tech industry so my colleagues put me on. When I saw how much rendering power and energy it required to make something look kinda okay and very soulless I immediately opted out of ever dabbling in it. I felt like there was zero satisfaction in what I was looking at as I inputed my stupid prompt and refreshed the litte button if i felt like the outcome wasnt what i wanted it to be. I felt like this can snowball into a brain atrophy-ing outcome. Whats the point of art if our human brains , trial and error isn’t the sole core of it. I’d rather AI focus on laundry while I create.

Rama: I’ve asked ChatGPT to word a few awkward emails but you would never catch me using it in my artwork, respectfully. Even if it can make the banal/repetitive aspects of animating easier, it would never occur to me to touch AI because the repetitive, wobbly hand drawn elements of making moving images is what gives it life, story and interest. We are seeing AI used for such foul things like targeting immigrants and scanning through peoples phone for reasons to deport them, I just also really want to be as far away from that realm as possible. Life is so big, and I have no interest in experimenting in AI when there’s a whole world of wood working, soldering and textile skillsets I haven’t even grazed the surface of.

Sarah: I haven’t dabbled in AI for my visual art, and I have no intention of soon. For now, I’d like for my art to remain my work and hold the emotions I feel when I make it.