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First, there was a big wave of democratization of knowledge due to the rise of the internet. Now, the accessibility of generative AI is creating another wave of democratized knowledge. This knowledge is even more personalised, and needs less effort and expertise to be used in an effective way. As a result more people have access to informationand can even use information that might have previously been too complex to use for them. In a sense, less skilled individuals will be able to use AI tools to augment their own skills.

On the one hand this creates more equal opportunities. For example, it enables people with fewer resources to start a brand by using AI tools that can generate good names, icons and designs. It also enables people with poor writing skills to write a professional text to present their plans. I for example I tried out the ai tool flair.ai, which is a content-generating software created to help content creators, marketeers, and business owners affordably and quickly produce content. It takes a bit of getting used, but it is fairly easy to get the hang of and to create branded content that looks professional.

On the other hand, it is important to keep in mind that the use of AI requires access to the internet, meaning that knowledge will only be further democratized to societies that already have access to the internet. Although the number of individuals with an online presence and digitized lifestyle in other parts of the world has significantly grown, Africa is still lagging in the race. Despite the rising number of users, the internet penetration rate stood at around 43 percent in 2021, below a global average of 66 percent (Statista, 2023). This means that a large part of the African population does not have access to the internet and thus also not to all the AI resources available. In turn, this means that all the other geographical areas will have very easy access to resources and opportunities to participate in the world economy while a big part of Africa will have none at all. This could make the gap between the two worlds even bigger.

Statista. (2023, September 22). Africa number of internet users by country 2023 | Statista. Retrieved October 16, 2023, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/505883/number-of-internet-users-in-african-countries/

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I recently stumbled upon this image representing the relationship between identity and augmented AI (Digitalindex, 2023). Initially, I was drawn to it, appreciating its aesthetic qualities and admiring its deeper meaning. However, after learning that the image was AI generated I started to feel bad for liking it. This revelation caused some conflicting emotions because, only recently, I engaged in a discussion with some friends about the essence of “real” art. We collectively concluded that only are created by humans could be considered real, reasoning that AI-generated art is based on what already exists and thus lacks originality.

Nevertheless, coming across this picture made me look at the subject in a different light. I began to see that in a sense all forms of are emerge from conceptualization – an idea that an artist materializes. Throughout history, artists have used many tools, from paintbrushes and musical instruments to modern electronic inputs. Even in the case of AI-generated art, a human provides the initial prompt, so it could be argued that  the art is human made and AI was just used as a tool, much like traditional art.

Small (2023) discusses the subject of AI generated art in an article of the New York Times, mentioning how sometimes people might try to find meaning in an image that is based on just a code. In a way, AI is making us question the fundamentals that we base our reality on.  The question of “what is real art” essentially compels us to question “what is real?”. My argument is that the mere discussion of AI-generated art indicates that it is art of some sort. While it may not be art as we have known, I believe it falls under the umbrella of art in some capacity.

Nonetheless, art is also deeply rooted in emotion, meaning and interaction. According to Mineo (2023) the last factor is missing in the case of AI. Mineo even suggests that the current state of AI may not even qualify as AI, especially since “intelligence assumes a certain independence and consciousness” (Mineo, 2023). This further shows how the determination of how real AI art is, is dependent on how one defines real in the first place.

I personally experimented around with beethoven.ai, a platform that makes it easy for content creators to generate background music with the help of AI. I managed to make some samples that sounded quite pleasant. Despite this I would not consider myself an artist just yet. Additionally, I explored various websites that enable users to generate images based on prompts, yielding the following results:

While I would not classify these results as art in my view, I propose that with more refined prompts (possibly from a real artist) and with a more advanced AI image generator, true art could emerge. This is because how I define real is based on functionality and usefulness. So, if an AI-generated image can evoke genuine feelings within me, then, at least in my personal perception, it can be considered real.

References:

Digitalindex. (2023). How AI is Shaping Our Personal Identity: Will It Augment or Replace Us? 🧐. Digital Index. https://www.digitalindex.ai/how-ai-is-shaping-our-personal-identity-will-it-augment-or-replace-us/

Mineo, L. (2023, August 25). Is art generated by artificial intelligence real art? Harvard Gazette. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2023/08/is-art-generated-by-artificial-intelligence-real-art/

Small, Z. (2023, September 26). Can David Salle teach A.I. how to create good art? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/09/22/arts/design/david-salle-ai.html