[_manifold]

I think we're kidding ourselves to think that some nebulous concept of "the artist's journey" somehow informs the end result in a way that is self-evident in human-produced digital art. Just as with electric signals in the "brain in a vat" thought experiment, with digital art it's pixels. If an algorithm can produce a set of pixels that is just as subjectively good as a human artist, then nobody will be able to tell - and most likely the average person just won't care.

On the other hand, I would say that traditional mediums (especially large format paintings) are relatively safe from AI generation/automation - for now.

[akiselev]

> On the other hand, I would say that traditional mediums (especially large format paintings) are relatively safe from AI generation/automation - for now.

Why do you think that? I think large format paintings might be in just as much danger.

There’s a large industry of talented artists in China, Vietnam, etc who copy famous artworks by hand for very low prices. They’re easily accessible online: you upload an image and provide some stylistic details and the artist does the hard work of turning the image into brush strokes. It’s not “automated” but I’ve already ordered one 4’x2’ AI generated painting in acrylic relief for less than the cost of a 1’x1’ from a local community gallery. I put in quite a bit of work inpainting the image to get what I want but it would have been completely impossible to get what I want even six months ago.

I’ve only ever purchased half a dozen artworks in my life and they were all under a few hundred bucks but with this new tech, it just doesn’t make sense to buy an artists’ original work unless it’s for charity. The AI can do the creative work the way I want and there are plenty of artists who are excellent at the mechanical translation (which still requires a lot of creativity, mind)

[bombcar]

You don't even have to go to China - I had a very nice painting painted from a photograph for a friend done by another friend's mom who just like painting landscapes.

It looked great and all I had to do was pay for supplies, which was still less than the cost of the framing.

[_manifold]

I didn't know there was an industry for that, I guess I should have figured. I might look into that for my own purposes. Although for what it's worth when I said "large format paintings" in my mind I was thinking very large paintings - like Picassos's Guernica - larger than something the average person would have hanging in their home. To the point that the cost of producing it and transporting it is large enough that a buyer is more likely to take personal interest in the artist and much less likely to knowingly purchase something AI-generated or otherwise automatically produced.

[_carbyau_]

That is simply a version of the GPs "artists who are excellent at the mechanical translation".

Want someone to paint the ceiling in your mega mansion? Sure.

But now the creative bit can be done by you - or your 8 year old - if you like.

[Xelynega]

I think we're kidding ourselves to think that clustering features of existing works and iteratively removing noise based on that clustering is somehow comparable to building up human experiences and expressing them through art.

Using the "brain in a jar" thought experiment, you're making the assumption that the iterative denoising process is equivalent to the way the "brain in the jar" would generate art. Since the question is whether or not the processes are equivalent, it seems nonsensical to have to assume their equivalence for your argument.

[dwringer]

I don't think the artist's journey necessarily informs the end result in some way - but I believe it can be an important experience for the artist. Then again, artists can still do this in the era of generative art - there's just not much as much chance of being rewarded for it. If this leads to fewer people wanting to explore art, then I think we've lost something. But it's not clear to me where things are headed I guess. This could be a huge boon in letting people explore ways of expressing themselves who otherwise lacked the artistic ability to want to try.