Artificial Idiocy's Abysmal Imitations

An idealistically motivated rant against AI 'art'.

Preface

I oppose the use of AI in replacing human creativity and ingenuity. Using AI for menial tasks, tasks people do not want to do, or tasks that are impossible for humans is a valid use of it. I believe that AI can be a valuable tool in humanity’s future, if used correctly. However valuable the profits it may net companies in the present, its misuse will still cause the future to become something that I don’t think anyone wants, not even those promoting it. It’s one thing to rule a world, and another to rule a pile of ash.

Is AI Art Good?

All good artworks carry intentionality. The majority of AI products lack that. They’re thoughtless concoctions that can’t match up to genuine art because the people who made them never learnt to draw. They produce pieces that look great on the surface – then you dig a little deeper and discover the cavalcade of issues that infest these tumour-adjacent rots like maggots.

Stylistic inconsistency. Inaccurate lighting. Faulty anatomy. A piece more concerned with seeming good than being good. I don’t care if you spend weeks perfecting your outputs, because you don’t know what to perfect. Studying anatomy? What a waste of time! They’ll proclaim. And then you look at the hands on these amalgamated characters they produce.

But what about AI outputs that do fulfill all the little details you’d require an actual artist to know about? Let me tell you a little secret. It still sucks. Here’s the thing. It doesn’t matter if it’s good. It doesn’t matter if AI fills up the internet with slop or masterpieces. It’s not to do with the quality of the output – it’s to do with the connotation and meaning of it.

Imagine this. You tell some of your acquaintances that your birthday is soon. On the day, your best friend gives you an incredible, artfully crafted gift that they made with their own two hands, tailored to the every atom and texture in your relationship. Your coworker slides along to the party for an hour to drop off a store-bought card and gift, snatching a slice of cake and a party favour and leaving. Which gift do you appreciate more?

The genuine one, obviously. And don’t pretend to be some cool edgelord that doesn’t give a shit.

This is why handmade art is infinitely better than any imitation a machine cooks up. Real art is made with a story beyond clicking a button. There was effort there, something worth experiencing. Real art comes from a place of passion, not a spiteful urge to highlight your own prowess. Yeah okay, AI allows you to make whatever you want with the press of a button. Whatever you can imagine. With zero effort, so it only works for something that you wouldn’t consider worth spending effort on. A shitpost, basically.

I Spend Effort on My AI Outputs

Okay, so you might have the passion, the creative drive, the want to make something good. There are two paths you can take. A: you pick up a pencil and start learning. It takes hours and hours to produce something that looks good. B: you type a prompt to a machine and start refining. It takes hours and hours to produce something that looks good. Both pieces are incredible. They look amazing and carry the story of effort and process. The one made with AI has all the technical elements the other does.

Now, you might ask: but then what’s the difference? Why is real art still better?

The answer: it’s not. The effort is in both. Both are genuine.

At least, from the narrow perspective of wanting to produce a good-looking and genuine image.

If you took the second path, even if you spent all that effort on what you make, you’re still messing up. Humans like to categorize similar things together – it’s just what we do. You’ll simply be lumped in with all the passionless and button slamming fools building piles of trash. Moreover, doing this supports AI. You funnel more resources and publicity to these AIs and therefore still increase their environmental damage and their ability to create shit. Sure, the impact of one person might not be that much. That’s what we thought about climate change too, and where are we now?

So, to all those creative people out there: when you are at the crossroads, take the first path. It’s the second one, without all the baggage.

AI is Just a Medium

Sure, it could be. If you have the passion and effort, but most of the arguments people give are just straight up bullshit. Some people say that the transition to AI is just like the transition from traditional to digital. This is wrong, because AI gives the option to simply not make art at all – to let something else do it and to put no effort in yourself. Digital art is an acceptable shortcut because it simply removes unnecessary hardship from the process – while AI art removes the process itself.

And then some people will make the argument that people doing art by hand or digital pen are ‘wasting time drawing’. The stupidity contained in that phrase is indescribable. No one is forcing you to draw. If you don’t like it, stop doing it, because you’ll never be successful that way. Art is driven by passion. Artists draw because they like the process and the product, not just the product. You could also say the same thing about AI ‘artists’ who spend hours refining their piece. Aren’t you also wasting time drawing?

If you need art, for advertisements or something, you still shouldn’t use AI, because that by nature harms artists.

Is AI Better Than Artists?

This section is a direct letter to the idiots slandering real art.

No, of course it’s not. Because without artists, it wouldn’t even exist. If AI models were disallowed access to artists’ work, they wouldn’t get anywhere – and I think we can be pretty sure that no one developing that shit is gonna bother teaching it to draw by hand. Art is driven by passion and having a thoughtless machine make it for you inherently removes the ‘art’ aspect from it.

It doesn’t matter if the output of an AI is acceptable from a pure ‘look’ perspective – or even from a skills perspective, it’s still bullshit, because there was no effort or passion put in. It simply isn’t art. And to each and every one of you fucks who make this shit and hate on real artists for some bloody reason, I implore you all to stop and take a look. What are you really doing? Do you realize the harm you cause? And why are you doing it?

I won’t answer those questions for you because you probably have enough mental issues already to be supporting this kind of shit. If you genuinely support AI art with no other reasons… pick up a pencil. Grab a sheet of paper. Make some goddamn drawings. See what it’s like for everyone else.

You tap a button while others spend years practicing, honing each piece to the point of exhaustion. You order McDonalds and serve it up on a little wooden platter with a fancy name and sell it for a hundred dollars. You fly a helicopter up a mountain and proclaim it foolish for those below to have wasted their time hiking. You are the fool. You are hated. You are blind. Now wake the fuck up and repent.

So… What Should I Do?

Stay away from AI. By supporting it, you harm artists, people who have spent years honing their skills. If you have passion, pick up a pencil. If you don’t and want some, work for it. Don’t be a lazy button-tapping fool.