Artists Activated by AI
I'm encountering a strong and eloquent activism from young artists against the use of AI.
I spend the end of each semester reviewing thoughts shared by students in both hand-written journals and inside electronic notebooks. The autumn of 2024 was the first time I encountered strong and eloquent resistance to the rise of artificial intelligence on campus.
Debasing Creative Work
The young animators I train have spent years developing drawing skills. Several of them attended two years of portfolio training before beginning their university experience so they are well aware of how to produce creative imagery on the fly. My student cohort is not impressed by AI enhancing “accessibility” for many by “democratising creativity, allowing non-artists to create professional-grade artwork with minimal effort”. This use of AI erodes the value of creatives who learned how to hear an idea and sketch the concept directly on paper of on screen.
Creative digital animators on my campus have encountered a deluge of digital paintings and fashion designs that originate from AI-generated art. The only human element is at the keyboard, typing prompts for a machine to respond with a sketch.
Running from the AI tech
I’ve listened to heart-felt discussions started by student leaders about this unwanted imposition of AI in and around the digital arts labs. The tools are often running resident on some tablets or in the system tray of some workstations. Their very presence has shocked a narrow but articulate cross-section of young university students.
I’m taking some of the complaints head-on. Students want to know there are protocols in place to preserve the provenance of their original work, respecting their intellectual property, and maintaining the dignity of human creativity. These are well-considered demands that I’m taking on board.
The Balancing Act
It is so challenging for artists to stay on the high road of creativity while simultaneously using social media tools or syndicated feeds that are designed to share their creativity. Artists need to share and to showcase their work, often using free services whose terms and conditions grant partial ownership to the service provider. In my newsfeeds, AI art has become commonplace and it’s often not even cited as being used to create or to complement content.
In work I do with small and large business networks, I try to articulate many of these concerns. But I know the people who attend the training often want tools they can use to make their jobs go faster. And that means they don’t substantiate where they source their text, their ideas, or their artwork.
If you want to go deep into the creative space carved out by some of my creative digital animators, scroll through some of Ger Carey’s work (artwork shared above) on YouTube @CoralineHecc.
