Generative Art After Effects

When the AI artistic tool DALL-E hit the headlines, you might have heard people saying, “After replacing humans at work, the robots are after the artists!” While this might be scary to think about, it's just not true.

Over the past half century, our world has rapidly progressed in every technological field. A concept like generative art perfectly captures this trend. By making use of everything modern computing has to offer and incorporating the concepts and objectives that artists have pursued since the beginning of modern art, generative art produces elegant and compelling pieces of work almost entirely on its own.

It’s unclear when OpenAI will make DALL-E available for the public, but there are other generative art apps available that are nothing less than miraculous.

What Is Generative Art?

Art that was entirely or partially produced by an autonomous system is called generative art. In this context, an autonomous system is typically a nonhuman entity capable of making judgments on its own about elements of a piece of art that would otherwise need direct input from the artist. The nonhuman entity here is artificial intelligence (AI).

Because of the rise of technology and machine learning, computers can now produce art, music, design, and more on their own.

Sort of.

Generative Art Isn’t Completely Random

The first thing to keep in mind is that there are very few things we can genuinely call random or unique, and generative art isn’t one of them.

AI expert Margaret Boden said, “Ninety-five percent of what professional artists and scientists do is exploratory. Perhaps the other five percent is truly transformational creativity.”

Most forms of art are derivative. An artist’s ability to put their own twist on inspired ideas is what leads them to produce great work. AI might not be able to do the last bit, but it certainly can do the other ninety-five percent.

The Advantages of Generative Art

The use of computers by generative code allows artists to produce thousands of ideas in a matter of milliseconds, as opposed to conventional painters who spend day after day, month after month on one idea.

If you’re wondering how to make digital art look real, AI can do it. With just a few text prompts, even someone with zero art skills can have AI create a painting for them. By teaching computers to operate under a list of artistic restrictions and directing the process to an intended outcome, generative artists can use the power of modern computing to create new aesthetics.

This approach greatly reduces the art and design exploration process and frequently yields brilliant and unexpected new concepts.

The Future of Art

There were probably rumours after the first camera was introduced that artists and portrait painters were going to become obsolete. That hasn’t been the case.

Paintings and artists were not replaced by photography. Rather, it forced artists to adapt. It gave birth to a new generation of artists who explored the potential of the new innovation. Painters and photographers now coexist and create art that awes us with the beauty of both paints and photographs.

Art, in whatever shape it takes, makes us feel. There's endless space for it to expand and make us experience life in new ways. AI generative artists will fill new roles in the art field. They will shift current forms of art, but they will not eliminate them. Many artists will employ these new tools and technologies to expand their creative brilliance.

To Wrap It Up

It’s unclear what the future holds for us and for generative art, but two things are certain. One, DALL-E and other art engines will continue to evolve into even more sophisticated systems that can complete more complicated pieces. Two, it won’t replace artists but will assist them in pushing the boundaries of what we call art. So, rest easy.