Byte The Dust
In an era where machines can imitate the finished products of human creativity, we are entering an ominous world in which we are forgetting what art is and who it's for. Without question, AI art is theft and not creative. Given that it relies on databases of stolen work, its “creativity” is contingent on the ingenuity of real artists.
Obviously artists don’t operate in a vacuum, but what sets us apart is that we have free will, emotions, and can experience life as sentient beings. These are essential aspects for inspiration and new artistic movements. Regardless if we took the stolen work out of the equation or not, nothing new or creative would evolve out of AI because it doesn’t genuinely understand what it's being told to do.
While referencing "The Creation of Adam", I wanted to poke fun at robots being visibly distraught they couldn't properly steal a classic piece.
This piece is in reference to the smudged signatures in the corners of posts made with the Lensa AI app, which stole styles from various artists.
I kept thinking to myself, "would I be any less upset if robots could learn as organically as humans do?", and the answer is still yes. It wouldn't make a difference because we still don't need robots to replace the kind of work people enjoy doing. AI art generators are not being developed for the sake of creativity, but rather as a means to displace labor.
"Can't Help Myself" by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu is an installation in which a robot is programmed to contain a goo within a small barrier but cannot because there is too much. It invites viewers to empathize with the robot (something that cannot feel), and to rethink our relationship with machines. I wanted to offer a spin on that take with the struggles AI faces with making hands, as a reminder its only a matter of time before it surpasses that obstacle. Is it really worth it to push towards the point where AI doesn't need our input anymore?
I wanted to make a piece to remind people of the importance of the humanity that goes into all art. By "meeting" me, you can see me and some of the things that inspire me (my friends, my music taste, etc.), as well as the other things that go into making art (my setup, my fun snacks, etc.). By contrast, AI only uses prompts and has no creative process, setup, or sense of feeling and inspiration. It can be hard to remember people as the culmination of the things they are and not just what they produce.
