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Artificial Intelligence in the Art World

Updated: Oct 12, 2023

Written by Eric K. (KIS '23)

━━ Dec 8th, 2020 ━━




Take a few moments and try to imagine a world where art is no longer defined as an embodiment limited to human creativity — a world where machines can visually express their emotions through a form of painting or sculpture. What would it look like? As a matter of fact, this is not just a fairytale story; it is already happening around the world today, thanks to the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.


The Story of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is vastly becoming a huge part of people's daily lives. From providing a full list of user’s preferred movie recommendations to self-driving automobiles, the technology is gradually blending into human society. In 2019, about 77% of consumers were using AI worldwide (source: vXchnge), with total spending of $35.8 billion (source: Adobe). In addition, over 37% of organizations have implemented the technology in some form, which is a 270% increase over the last 4 years (source: Gartner). What all these statistics imply, is the fact that the popularity of AI is gradually increasing over a period of time. Taking an even further step, the technology is pushing its boundaries to areas that need a rather complex approach: art.



Artificial Intelligence used in Art

But how exactly can artificial intelligence be applied to a field in which “human creativity” is the core? Does it mean that AI can create its own piece of artwork? Here’s how. Over the past 50 years, artists have long worked on developing a new concept that involves computer programs to generate art. This is called algorithmic art, according to Ahmed Elgammal, professor of computer science and founder of the Art and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. He explains the process of creating AI art through algorithms: the artists write a set of algorithms to learn a specific art style by analyzing thousands of pre-existing images, which then the program attempts to produce new images based on the aesthetics it has learned.





By Refik Anadol. This AI project examined all the sculptures

created during the Renaissance era. To be exhibited in

October 31st in Milano, Italy


Artificial intelligence can also be used in music. AIVA is an AI music engine that composes soundtrack music for movies, commercials, games, and trailers. The program allows users to create original music through several methods. One of them is to combine and remake an existing human-composed score with other “temp tracks”. Another way is similar to that of visual arts, which involves the use of preset algorithms to compose music in predefined styles, including classical to Middle Eastern genres.




I Am AI (Variation), composed by AIVA


However, there are many skepticisms regarding these conceptual forms of art. Jerry Saltz, a Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic views AI art as “boring and dull”. That may be true since AI-produced artworks are basically imitations of what was already created. This brings about another question concerning AI’s role in art.


Can Artificial Intelligence be creative?

A study conducted by Ahmed Elgammal and his colleagues explored the relationship between creativity and artificial intelligence. The team developed an algorithm which assessed the creativity of a given painting, on the basis of the artwork’s context within the scope of art history. With the help of computer vision, they assigned the program a set of artworks between the 15th to 20th centuries. The algorithm then made conclusions using visual analysis and considering dates. Ahmed notes some of the interesting results: the algorithm scored the creativity of Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” (1893) much higher than its late 19th-century counterparts. It also gave Picasso’s “Ladies of Avignon” (1907) the highest creativity score of all the paintings it analyzed between 1904 and 1911. These interpretations were just about the same as the thinkings of art historians. While there were slight differences, the study showed how machine learning and AI can perform tasks that require creativity — and even exceed humans in some cases.



What do these all mean?

Even though artificial intelligence and machine learning have made significant impacts on the world of art by showing its infinite possibilities, there still lies one aspect that distinguishes them from human-generated artworks. The focus needs to shift from the outputs, or the results, to the essential process of creating the artwork — as mentioned by Ahmed, AI algorithms live in an isolated space that lacks social context. Human artists, on the other hand, are inspired by their surroundings, including people, nature, time, emotions, and many more. Still, the presence of AI technology in the art will undoubtedly bring revolutionary changes and new opportunities, as it did countless times in the past.


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Credits:

Elgammal, Ahmed. “AI Is Blurring the Definition of Artist.” American Scientist, 14 June 2019, www.americanscientist.org/article/ai-is-blurring-the-definition-of-artist.


Kugel, Peter. “Artificial Intelligence and Visual Art.” Leonardo, vol. 14, no. 2, 1981, pp. 137–139. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1574409. Accessed 13 Sept. 2020.


Bidshahri, Raya. “The Rise of AI Art-and What It Means for Human Creativity.” Singularity Hub, 16 Oct. 2019, singularityhub.com/2019/06/17/the-rise-of-ai-art-and-what-it-means-for-human-creativity/


Mántaras, Ramón López de. “Artificial Intelligence and the Arts: Toward Computational Creativity.” OpenMind, Mar. 2017, www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/articles/artificial-intelligence-and-the-arts-toward-computational-creativity/.


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