Real Art

Recent advances in AI and generative “art” add to capabilities that have existing and been improving for many years. Photoshop has been able to fake and manipulate images since the 1990s. The only change is that it is easier and faster than ever to create images of things that don’t exist. This leads to an interesting philosophical question. What makes a photo art? What makes anything art? Is a bad photo still art? Is a good photo created by a computer art?

While I think defining art in general is too hard, I think it is possible to narrowly define components of art. My definition of art revolves around human input. If a human didn’t have intention or input into a thing, that thing is not art. For example, an AI photo of person generated from the words “picture of person” is definitely not art. This isn’t an all or nothing situation. Someone who put a lot of thought into an AI image prompt is still creating something closer to art than a person that used no thought at all.

It is also important to clarify that not all art is good. I’m sure we have all looked at some famous piece of art and thought it was dumb. That’s ok, it can be bad art. It is also possible for that computer generated image to be beautiful, and still not art. A beautiful photo can be devoid of interest.

I also want to point out that a computer being involved isn’t the criteria for human intention. Moving to a music example, synthesized music is completely electronic, but can still be art. A human needed to create that music, even if the instrument was a computer. Even generative AI can be used to make real and good art. It just needs to be done with caution and intention.

This might seem like a strange criterion for photography. For instance, I don’t decide where clouds move or what trees look like. Instead, a photographer needs to use the elements that nature provided to create a compelling image. The photographer provides input to take the world around them and make art. There is some luck involved, but generally, the photographer that puts in the effort to explore and think about the scene will get the better shot.