By Aimee McElreath, Volunteer
Ever since the internet arose, digital art has been shared everywhere. However, due to the advances of artificial intelligence, a new form of digital art has been growing: AI art, images generated by AI intended to look like illustrations or artwork. As this new technology grows, so do questions about the ethical use of generative AI. How can AI art be helpful? How can it be harmful?
Common uses of generative AI are to create illustrations of people using the Language Learning Models (LLMs) in the art styles of anime, like Studio Ghibli movies, and cartoons, like The Simpsons. The use of AI art is usually for fun, but it can also be used for advertising or promotional purposes. For example, AI illustrations are used to design posters for events on campus.
Generative AI uses available data from the internet, such as artwork and illustrations, to train Language Learning Models, or LLMs, like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot, to create this content without prior permission or credit.
However, as Dr. Hobbs, an Associate Professor of English, with almost thirty years of experience in the professional art world, explained, generative AI contrasts with human artists. Human artists are inspired, while AI art blends existing pieces from available images online together to make an illustration.
Dr. Hobbs said, “it [AI art]’s just regurgitating what’s already been done. It hasn’t really created anything.”
Dr. Burgsbee L. Hobbs also commented on what human artists share with AI art.
“Human artists synthesize. We look at things and are inspired by other things, and then we synthesize, and we call that creating something new, out of previous ideas,” he stated.
Dr. Hobbs even predicted that, based on the surge of AI-generated visuals, most of the content on the internet may become AI-generated.
Yet, despite some possible ethical limitations, AI art does have beneficial uses for those with motor skill difficulties or disabilities who may not be able to create their own visual artworks. It is a technology that makes creativity more accessible.
Dr. Hobbs stated, “We have to acknowledge that AI is appropriate for accessibility. It helps community members with physical limitations to express their own visions. With that said, I still feel like that final mile of any creation is best when it’s been paved by human hands.”
Able-bodied folks may also use AI art reasonably in a way that allows them to see how visuals may come together before human creation. It may act as a tool to create rough drafts for creative works.
Dr. Hobbs remarked, “As one who has spent countless hours manually mocking up color palettes and layout variations either on a drafting table or with digital design software, I see the benefits of using AI for the brainstorming and ideation phases that come before the creation work.”
Both human art and AI art use previous works to make art in different ways. While AI art takes apart existing artwork and meshes it together to make something out of it, human art is achieved by using existing artwork as inspiration, using it as a reference or idea for new pieces of artwork.
AI art serves as a tool to aid, rather than replace, human expression. Generative AI is not something to reject, but something to understand and use responsibly. If we establish integrity in our use of technology, we can improve the lives of not just ourselves but also of the people around us.
