AI in the arts: a new age of creativity – The Merionite
Just three years ago, the well-known Artificial Intelligence tool ChatGPT was released to the public. It quickly became a historic landmark in the field of AI, opening many new doors for creativity and advancement within almost any industry imaginable. As we know, Artificial Intelligence comes in many forms. In this case, the focus is on chatbots that mimic human writing and illustrations. While this technology wasn’t a new concept, ChatGPT was quickly popularized as a dynamic tool that could answer a seemingly endless amount of questions. Within five days, the chatbot had attracted over one million users. While there were undoubtedly many great opportunities to be had with this new technology, many issues arose simultaneously. Fear of total robot takeover and loss of human touch were a common topic among many concerns. Many were worried about our society transforming into a dystopia similar to the one seen in Ready-Player-One.
Development of AI in the Arts
ChatGPT had been in development for years, originally starting out as a research project conducted by OpenAI in 2016. However, AI had already been a large field of interest for many years before ChatGPT was founded. Besides the words and numbers, there has been an abundance of curiosity in AI’s ability to produce images based on a prompt. In fact, early AI image generation attempts date all the way back in the 1970s. Back then, limited computing power and data slowed the progress. However, in just the past decade artificial image generation has greatly expanded with companies such as Open AI launching tools such as DALL-E. These novel innovations can create highly detailed pictures and videos—an act computers wouldn’t have been able to come close to performing just ten years ago.
Impact on Creative Arts Industries
While this rapid growth is exciting, it should be noted that such quick development of such an elaborate field can pose some great risks. Some of these might include dangerous misinformation being spread, misleading images being created, and unsafe data handling. Aside from those problems, many workers in the creative arts industries are concerned with this new tool. One specific example is in the graphic design field, where AI can easily replicate human work in a fraction of the time it would take a human to do it. Here at LM, we have our own graphic design club, sponsored by creative arts teacher Ben Walsh.
When asked about whether it is a possibility that humans will be completely replaced by AI, Walsh explained, “I do not see a future now where the creative fields like filmmaking, graphic design, and creative arts in the consumer area, whether it be for entertainment or for marketing and graphics, does not have some level of AI in it.” Since this is the closest humanity has come so far to a “robot takeover,” it is clear that there is no way to make an exact prediction of how this situation will end.
Challenges and Controversies
However, we are already seeing some effects of AI in other departments, such as commercials and movies. Recently, Coca-Cola released an ad fully generated by AI, and it received great backlash. “Right now, AI is taboo in the art field. The general public, they’re not at ease with it yet, which explains why a lot of people are rejecting it,” said Walsh. Additionally, AI was utilized in the 2024 film and best-picture nominee The Brutalist, where leading actor Adrien Brody’s accent was fine-tuned through the use of AI, leading to immense controversy and retaliation from the media and the public.
The Future of AI in the Arts
It is apparent that the people are not prepared for such a quick shift to automation for design and animation, but it seems that the shift is inevitable. While no one can predict the future, some experts have predicted that there will be three different types of companies: those who avoid AI, those who fully embrace AI, and those who use a hybrid of the two. As for the hybrid version, Walsh explains, “the last type of company might employ fewer designers, who are still the best designers in their field, but they additionally possess the skills to incorporate AI into their work. And I believe that’s the most powerful group.”
Positive Aspects of AI Integration
While there are plenty of negatives to the rise of AI, there are still several positive aspects. Besides the bonus of efficiency, these new programs will make it much more accessible for beginners looking to create appealing projects. One example of this would be in the popular program Canva. Walsh explains, “I hate Canva. Canva for me is this dumb product where all of their tools are focused on how to take someone with no skills and give them the ability to produce something that looks like they’ve had five, six, seven years of skills at a college studying this stuff. That’s Canva’s objective, and essentially what AI is going to do for everybody. And that’s awesome for the person who doesn’t want to take the time to become skilled.”
Whether you support the integration of AI into our everyday lives or not, we may only have one option in the future: to accept this change. It is clear that we no longer are a primarily human-operated society, meaning there is a new age of technology upon us. Therefore, it is crucial that anyone who desires to be successful in any creative arts field embraces this technological revolution.
