Thoughts on AI art
Thoughts on #AI art, from my conversation on Mastodon:
Art is, fundamentally, a form of communication; that to me is what differentiates art from natural phenomena such as “nature” and math, within which we can still find beauty, but do not expect an author on the other side.
AI art breaks this contract in the most fundamental way: it is math that’s designed to feign humanity. It mimics communication, setting an invitation for the viewer to comprehend and communicate, only to yank the rug from under their feet—gotcha, you’ll find only random numbers here. This is what I mean by “dishonest”. It’s fundamentally a bait-and-switch at the most meaningful, human level.
I’m not as concerned about procedural art, because…it’s obvious what it is. A Lissajous pattern on an Apple II is as beautiful as a poster of plotter art, but it’s up front with me: the art is in the author’s choice of math, not in the image itself.