Since ChatGPT burst onto the scene in the Fall of 2022, the concept of "AI art" has bothered me. I couldn't quite understand why, but I knew it rubbed me the wrong way. After much thought, I now understand why I do not consider AI-generated content art.
My fundamental apprehension in AI-generated art isn't the quality – it's that it fails to address the purpose of art. Art speaks to the infinite depths of the human experience, the endless color palette of our emotions, our greatest fears, and our inexhaustible aspirations. Art communicates an idea. The creation of art is often a long journey of self-reflection. Art is as much a cathartic learning experience for the artist as it is an intellectual journey for the viewer. Short-circuiting the creation process with artificial intelligence gives us no more significant insights. We've learned nothing from the process, and our ability to learn and grow from the experience has been taken from us.
Art is a uniquely human experience. When Vladimir Horowitz returned to his home country of Moscow in 1986, it was the 81-year-old pianist's first recital in the Soviet Union since he left his homeland 61 years ago to make a career in the West. He was well past his prime, yet many in the audience cried unabashedly during portions of the recital. Horowitz returned on stage for six curtain calls after he had played three encores. Listen to his interpretation of Liszt's Deuxième Année V; Sonnette 104 del Petarca or Scriabin's Etude Op. 8, No. 10. It is the sound of a man who has lived a full life, who is openly struggling in front of the audience, proof that youth is an aberration and wisdom only comes with time. Unfortunately, that hard-earned wisdom almost always comes too late to be fully realized by unencumbered virtuosity. This performance is a reflection of the complexities and ironies of life. It has taken on a deeper meaning than the notes on the page.
Wladyslaw Szpilman spent the last 56 years of his life without family after they were all murdered by Nazis in World War II. Though a simple piece, Chopin's Nocturne C sharp-minor takes on a haunting, melancholy atmosphere under Mr. Szpilman's fingers.
These small fragments of beauty, sparkling against the dark backdrop of an otherwise ugly world, can never be replicated by artificial intelligence. Art is a uniquely human celebration of ambition, resilience, and creativity that artificial intelligence can never match.