Ai Weiwei dismisses the significance of AI-reproducible art, praises Picasso and Matisse
In 2023, the term “artificial intelligence” (AI) dominated discussions, as advancements in this field occurred rapidly throughout the year. AI was incorporated into various tools, such as chatbots and image generation, code interpretation, and multi-modal search capabilities. However, alongside these positive developments, AI also gave rise to deepfakes and cybercrimes, sparking debates on AI governance and regulations. One area where AI’s impact has been overlooked is in the realm of art. Thanks to advancements like Midjourney, AI now has the potential to accurately replicate art pieces. However, a Chinese artist argues that this replication would lack meaning.
Art that can be replicated with artificial intelligence
Speaking to the Guardian, Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei said that art that can be easily copied by artificial intelligence is “meaningful”. The artist further emphasized that if legendary artists like Pablo Picasso and others had existed in the age of artificial intelligence, they would have had to change their approach to art. Weiwei said, “I’m sure if Picasso or Matisse were still alive, they would stop working. It would simply be impossible for them to continue to think [the same way].”
This is not the first time that an artist has spoken out about the impact of artificial intelligence on art. Tennessee-based artist Kelly McKernan along with Sarah Andersen and Karla Ortiz filed a class action lawsuit against AI image generators such as Midjourney, Stable Diffusion and DreamUp. McKernan noticed that their names were fed into AI image generators to create artwork in their style.
Speaking about it, Weiwei said, “It’s not a problem. I think that kind of art [would have died] a long time ago. AI takes a while to do it. It means that only what they’ve learned very often is irrelevant.”
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