Our world is slowly becoming an AI-driven one, and the most important question is: can artificial intelligence create something as real as what people have been creating for thousands of years? Because of this question a lot of people rethink their life choices, namely if they should continue to follow an art based career or if they should just stop. AI has created multiple artworks, has designed products, has composed music and has written award-winning novels, stealing jobs from people who are already struggling. 

Let's take AIVA, an AI music composer, which generates music in 250 styles. In 2018, artificial intelligence created the 'Portrait of Edmond de Belamy', which sold for $432,500. I believe everyone knows about ChatGPT, it is renowned for writing essays, stories and so on.

At the moment, Instagram claims that users' posts will be used to train their AI starting on June 26th. Because of this, artists are moving to Cara, a portfolio app that bans AI posts and training. Artists I have spoken to, claim they feel powerless and that they find it hard to start from zero once again on a new app. I believe it is quite hard to lose most of your effort after working so hard.

I have asked two of my art teachers if they think AI can create real art. My first teacher, Lavinia Cretu, claims "It is impossible for artificial intelligence to render the emotional values that humans show through their art. It can only create the physical form of objects, using all the information it found around the internet. One problem is that the poses and the anatomy in most cases is not accurate and dynamic, a human would be able to represent it much better. Art represents emotion, the artist's emotional state and it has meaning, AI will never be able to do such a thing.". As for my second teacher, Catalin Precum, he states "Artificial intelligence should not be able to create paintings in the first place, it should be used in construction, hard jobs which require human labour. But, now that it exists, it should be used as a tool, the way advanced photoshop is being used, because the actual drawings it creates equal with zero. There is no creativity put into using it and it most of the time steals from real artists and their art styles and uses them to its own advantage. Using AI is going to get people nowhere, it does not truly teach them how to draw. If artificial intelligence is going to get more and more popular, some legislations will need to appear in this domain, where copyright is in the spotlight. I believe with time, things will calm down."

I want to draw attention to what my second art teacher said about things calming down. With time I believe it will happen, because we have a similar event which took place not too long ago, when photography started to get more and more popularised, during the 19th century. Artists thought they would lose their jobs, because in the 18th century the most popular styles were Rococo, Neoclassicism, and Romanticism, which depicted the true nature of the human body, as accurately as possible. But, with the invention of cameras, artists had to shift their focus. Some well-known movements were Romanticism, Realism, Symbolism, Neoclassicism, Impressionism, Art Nouveau, and Post-Impressionism. Now the focus was on showing the artist's own interests and creativity, producing art for their own benefit. Some well known artists from this time period were Gustave Moreau and Claude Monet. Keeping in mind what happened in the 19th century, people can maybe relax. If history repeats itself, then everything will settle down. Artists will find new ways to express themselves and art will never die.

An unknown painting found at the Negreni flea market. Image: Ana Jibotean.

I this context, what is AI's place? Well, AI should be used as tool, where artists can get inspiration, but not to claim it as their own. It is difficult to claim an image made with AI, because it has access to everything there is on the internet. It can use other pieces of art to make a new one, which would beg the question, can it be considered someone's art? This is an interesting question, because even people get inspired by other creations, but they can make it their "own", by adding meaning and showing their emotions through their paintings. Copyright protects original works of authorship. Original works are created independently and have a minimal degree of creativity. I decided to define copyright, because I believe AI should take into consideration copyrighted material, and not use it in its creation. Art theft will be a massive problem in the future if AI is not kept under control. Laws will need to keep up with the demand and protect people's art.

Oxford Languages defines art as "the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power." Art is not a clear term, but I chose this definition so I could determine if drawings made by AI can be considered pieces of art. I believe AI will never be able to recreate what we humans can. It will not be capable to represent human emotions, messages or anything that makes us human beings. Maybe it will recreate the human body better than it does it at the moment, but it will forever be a machine which will copy from humans. Without us, AI would not exist.