I became one of the early adopters of AI Art and AI technology because of my desire to tell futuristic African stories amongst other things. In one of my other other articles about how i ventured into Photography, i explained how tough it was in 2010 to find images of Africans or people of black decent in stock imagery stores (read article here). 13 years after, this has only slightly improved. I am intrigued by the workings of AI but more with the results and what it can do for storytelling. Being constrained by access to concept developers or a bank of ideas had been such a struggle for me but AI has broken that barrier. As much as i am intrigued by it, I still have fears about where it is going and the impact it will have on the industry. I got ChaptGPT to take me on a short interview to get my views on AI Art. Here is how the conversation went.
How do you feel AI art impacts the creative process for artists who, like you, combine traditional and digital mediums?
I have always seen AI as a tool vs a creator. I liken it to when man moved from using manual tools to electrical powered devices. With a power drill, you would save not only time but energy when having to deliver on a task. What this means is, that a furniture maker gets to finish a chair that would typically take him a week to complete in 2 days. In 1 week he can then earn twice what he would have, simply because he upgraded his tools. The focus shifts from how tedious the process is to how creative the output can become. This is the same for artists using AI. We now have the ability cut out some of the tedious bits of the process and push the envelope on what the outcome can be. It used to be such an arduous process finding elements that could be used in compositions. In many cases, some of the perfect elements were either copyrighted or expensive to procure and so i would have to settled for less. Now, I get to deliver on quality creative work even when its simply an experiment that never leaves my laptop. The power drill in the hand of a carpenter could be so much more powerful compared to it being in the hand of a novice. I see this as it is with AI Art!
Do you think it could overshadow the human touch in your artistic practice?
No I do not. One of the things that I have learnt from selling art is that collectors buy into stories and emotions. I agree that the technique and skill matters but essentially it is the story behind the artist and the art piece that seems to matter the most. Why would we price the work of a renowned sculptor higher than that of a road side sculptor regardless of how great his work is. The answer is story and heart! These are things AI can not take a way from us. It is our humanness that gives the art heart. the ability to decide on what story we want to tell per time and know that in that moment too someone else will connect enough to want to own the piece of art. That’s powerful. It is this answer that helps reduce my fear and resistance to it.
What are your thoughts on the ethical considerations of using AI in art, especially regarding originality and authenticity?
Originality and authenticity is where the integrity of an art piece lies. When AI generates art, it often pulls from vast datasets of existing works, which can blur the lines of originality. There’s a risk that AI could dilute the distinct voices of artists by creating pieces that mimic rather than innovate. For me, maintaining authenticity means using AI as an assistant rather than a creator. What this means is that I would use AI as augmented reality tool where i layer what it provides me over what i can create. The outcome which is a mix of both worlds then comes out as an original piece. This is how i see it. I can now explore and draw from more styles and ways of thinking that i initially could.
- Below are a few experimental pieces i created using a mix of AI prompts to generate concept for photography and jewelry mixed with patterns i developed.
