Embracing Art in the Age of AI: A Manifesto for the Digital Renaissance
To all the moaners, groaners, and technophobes getting their undies in a bunch over the inevitable progress of art and technology: Sit the hell down. Before you accuse artists like me of cheating, or bring your boomer, retrograde, human-insecurity, technophobic fearmongering nonsense into this, F-OFF! I've honed my skills over years, and I promise you, I can outdo 99.9% of you with traditional tools, digital ones, and oh yes, with AI too.
If you're so damn scared of technology or if you've let media and government agendas cram your head with apocalyptic tales to keep you in line, that's on you. But let me enlighten you: I can train an AI model to emulate my style. And guess what? I'm totally fine with it. I'm not quaking in my boots because of some misplaced belief that AI will take over. I'm also cool with anyone using my work to train their AI models. Why? Because I'm not some technophobe who believes AI is a godlike entity while simultaneously thinking it isn't miles more competent than me.
Sure, copyright laws and intellectual property are important. They have their place. But understand this: AI-generated art is new work. The copyright for it should either lie with the AI provider, the genius behind the prompt (yeah, that's not the artists who provide the source training material), or be a mix of both. Got a personal AI model trained with your own designs and prompts? That’s YOUR work. It’s as much yours as a piece made using Photoshop, or a .jpg file from your camera. Remember those finger paintings or macaroni art from high school? Yeah, that was considered 'art' too, for you special bunch.
Art is, and always will be, a form of expression. It’s made with tools. If you're of the opinion that your body is the only legitimate tool for art, then congrats: YOU are the tool.
For the intellectuals trying to stir a debate around AI’s capacity for genuine creativity: let’s get real. Art isn't just about emotion or consciousness. It's about skill, mastery over mediums, and the final product. AI, while not 'conscious' in the way humans are, is still a learner. Like every artist who started off emulating the styles of others before crafting their own, AI does the same. The only difference? It does it faster and often better than most humans. But oh, did I bruise your ego? Does it hurt knowing a machine might outpace you? Evolve, adapt, or pick another profession. But for the love of everything sane, stop your incessant whining and trying to pull us all into the past. Stop mucking it up for those of us who see the potential of technology.
Grow the hell up, whiny babies. Embrace the future or get left in the dust.
P.S. Oh, and for those slow on the uptake: the very words you just read and the sick digital painting you ogled as this post's thumbnail? Crafted by AI tools, trained and steered to emulate my own writing and artistry. Chew on that and try not to choke on your prejudice. Bottoms up!