AI can’t replace artists, but it’s already transformed the art world forever

by Florence Hallett:
Not long ago, when AI was still science fiction, it seemed likely that its kinks and creases would be ironed out in the more obscure reaches of science, technology, medicine and manufacturing. But in our image-laden world, it is producers of visual content who are on the front line of what has rapidly emerged as an old-fashioned fight between good and evil.

Ai-Da – “the world’s first ultra-realistic humanoid robot artist” – and a range of other sophisticated image-generating tools are forcing urgent existential questions. Suddenly, the age-old assumption that art is rooted in human experience and thus beyond the capacity of non-sentient machines seems to be under some pressure.

Astonishingly, it feels only mildly hyperbolic to state that the intersection of art and AI has become the battleground for the human soul. And it’s no use looking for comfort from those in the industry: in a presentation to industry peers in San Francisco last month, Tristan Harris, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology said: “50 per cent of AI researchers believe there’s a 10 per cent or greater chance that humans go extinct from our inability to control AI.”

Read more at: https://inews.co.uk/culture/arts/ai-artificial-intelligence-cant-replace-artists-transform-art-world-2286528