This year I went on a date with someone who enthusiastically told me, „With AI, we will never have to consume imperfect art anymore!“
I’m torn between disgust about this kind of uncritical hype around AI and a faint hope that the takeover by generated images will finally lead to a combustion of the digital worlds created out of hyper-staged, hyper-retouched images, and possibly make us freer from the dopamine addiction systems we are caught in.
The quote „AI can never make art because AI can never be horny, the first step in making art“ keeps coming back to me – an attempt of my brain to lower my anxiety around this impending bullshit. Granted, AI cannot make art in the original sense of the word, but AI can definitely „make“ illustrations – by stealing the intellectual property of a million people who had to share their work online in order to market themselves. And the idea that an art director out there could type „illustration about sustainable footwear in the style of Eva Feuchter“ as a prompt makes my blood pressure rise.
Under these circumstances, the idea of pivoting my business towards art instead of service-oriented illustration almost seems like a smart stragetic move instead of a delusional pipedream. Because „art and storytelling are absolutely essiential, if not THE thing, that needs to happen*“ to solve the crisis of the years to come. . . . (*quote by @nicocanon_ , I believe)
