Mindless consumption and AI
Ok, so I am a computer science student and an artist, and quite frankly, I hate AI. I think it is just encouraging the mindless consumption of content rather than the creation of art and things that we enjoy. People are trying to replace human-created art with AI art, and quite frankly, that really is just a head-scratcher. The definition of art from Oxford Languages is as follows: “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.” The key phrase here is “human creative skill”; art is inherently a human trait. I think it is cool that we are trying to teach machines how to make art; however, can we really call it art based on the definition we see above? About two years ago, I wrote a piece for my school about AI and art (I might post it; who knows?), where I argued that AI art is not real art.
Now, what about code? As a computer science student, I kind of like AI in the sense that it can overlook my code and tell me what is wrong with it, as well as how to improve it. It can also suggest sources for a research paper and check my spelling (which is really bad; I used it for this). Now, AI can also MAKE code, and let me tell you, my classmates abuse this like crazy. Teachers and TAs are working overtime to look through all the code that students submit to find AI-generated code (I was one of them), and I’ll be honest, it’s really easy to find!
People think that coding is a very rigid discipline, and yes, you do have to be analytical and logical to come up with code that works; however, you also have to be creative. You have to be creative to solve the problems that you are given, and just like with art, AI can’t be creative. Sure, it can solve simple tasks like making an array that takes in characters and reverses the order to print the output. But it can’t solve far more complex problems, and when students try to use it to find solutions, it breaks. The programs that it generates just don’t work and/or it makes up some nonsense.
And as more AI content fills the landscape, it’s just getting shittier and shittier. Now, how does the mindless consumption of content relate to this? You see, I personally think it has a lot to do with it. We have been consuming information and content for a long time, but the amount of content that exists in this world is greater than ever before, and AI “content” is just adding to this junkyard. No longer are people trying to understand the many techniques of art and develop their own styles (this applies to all art forms, such as visual art, writing, filmmaking, etc.). People will simply just enter a prompt into Midjourney and BOOM, you have multiple “art pieces” in different styles (which were stolen from real artists), and you can keep regenerating until you get what you want. You don’t have to do the hard work of learning how to draw, developing an art style, and doing it until you get it right. You can “create” something quickly for instant gratification; you can post it, and someone will look at it. Maybe they will leave a like on it; they might even keep scrolling and see more and more AI art, therefore leading to mindless consumption.
