In the Age of AI Art, What Can Originality Look Like? | Eileen Isagon Skyers | TED
TLDREileen Isagon Skyers explores the intersection of artificial intelligence and originality in art. With AI technologies like DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, and Midjourney, AI has created a diverse range of imagery, from bizarre life forms to unique visual compositions. This raises questions about the future of human creativity and the critical engagement with machine-made art. Skyers discusses the perspectives of both pessimists, who see AI as a threat to human creativity, and optimists, who view it as an extension of our creative capabilities. She highlights the work of artists like Mario Klingemann, Sofia Crespo, Sara Ludy, Ivona Tau, and Claire Silver, who are pushing the boundaries of AI in art. These artists use AI to create uncanny portraits, surreal creatures, and abstract pieces, often through a process of curation and collaboration with AI. Skyers emphasizes that AI art is not just about aesthetics but also involves moral and ethical considerations. She concludes by encouraging us to embrace the technological future and to look to the work of these artists for cultural literacy in the new era of AI art.
Takeaways
- 🎨 AI art is generated using machine learning models like DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, and Midjourney, creating a wide range of imagery from life forms to abstract concepts.
- 🧠 AI's fascination stems from its ability to process vast amounts of data, reflecting a mirror image of human creativity and art movements.
- 🤔 The debate on originality in art is split between pessimists who see AI as a threat to human creativity and optimists who view it as an extension.
- 🖼️ Mario Klingemann's AI-generated artwork uses a model trained on historical portraits, revealing unique and uncanny interpretations of the human face.
- 🐠 Sofia Crespo's 'Neural Zoo' transforms neural network interpretations into surreal and biologically diverse creatures, blurring the line between reality and imagination.
- 📐 Sara Ludy's work with DALL-E 2's Outpainting feature exemplifies how artists can extend their creativity beyond the traditional canvas using AI.
- 🖼️ Ivona Tau's AI art is a form of curation, where she carefully selects inputs and outputs from her personal photo collection to create algorithmic memory.
- 🔍 Claire Silver collaborates with AI, using inpainting techniques to transform images, creating a fusion of traditional and digital art.
- 🌐 AI is now ubiquitous, and we are all co-creating with it, whether we realize it or not, which has implications for cultural literacy in the digital age.
- 🔧 The future of creativity is technological, and artists are at the forefront of exploring and shaping these new possibilities.
- 👏 The audience's applause signifies a recognition and appreciation for the evolving role of AI in the arts and its potential for future collaboration.
Q & A
What are some examples of AI art generation tools mentioned in the transcript?
-The transcript mentions AI art generation tools such as DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, and Midjourney.
How does AI art technology captivate us, according to the speaker?
-AI art technology captivates us because it is fascinating and we are inherently drawn to things we cannot fully understand.
What is the main concern of the pessimists regarding AI in the context of art?
-Pessimists are concerned that AI poses a great threat to human creativity.
How does the speaker suggest we can begin to critically engage with AI-generated art?
-The speaker suggests that we can begin by looking at metaphors, narratives, and insights from artists who are pushing the boundaries of AI.
What does Mario Klingemann's AI model do, as described in the transcript?
-Mario Klingemann's AI model is trained on thousands of portraits from the 17th to 19th centuries and generates unique, uncanny interpretations of the human face in real time.
How does Sofia Crespo's 'Neural Zoo' series differ from traditional art?
-Sofia Crespo's 'Neural Zoo' uses neural network interpretations to generate unreal sea creatures and diverse biological forms, creating images of otherworldly lifeforms in impossible detail.
What is the 'Outpainting' feature of DALL-E 2 used for?
-The 'Outpainting' feature of DALL-E 2 allows artists to extend their creativity beyond the frame using simple language prompts, such as 'torn edges'.
How does Ivona Tau's work with AI differ from traditional photography?
-Ivona Tau's work involves curating from her own photographs and using AI to generate images from her personal photo collection, creating a form of algorithmic memory.
What does Claire Silver refer to as her process with AI?
-Claire Silver refers to her process as being a 'collaborative AI artist', where she works intentionally with the machine to produce her art, using techniques like inpainting.
How does the speaker describe the current state of AI in art?
-The speaker describes the current state of AI in art as a collective co-creation with AI, where we are all now part of creating with AI whether we are aware of it or not.
What does the speaker suggest for those who want to be culturally literate in the new kinds of AI-generated images?
-The speaker suggests looking to the work of artists who are using AI as a productive place to start for becoming culturally literate in these new forms of art.
What is the speaker's final message regarding the future of creativity and technology?
-The speaker's final message is that we need to brace ourselves for an increasingly technological future, which will only multiply the creative possibilities at our fingertips now.
Outlines
🎨 AI Art: Exploring the Intersection of Technology and Creativity
This paragraph delves into the world of AI-generated art, highlighting the capabilities of models like DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, and Midjourney to create diverse and imaginative imagery. It discusses the fascination with AI as a technology that can process vast amounts of data to produce familiar yet unfamiliar visuals, mirroring human creativity. The paragraph also touches on the debate between pessimists who see AI as a threat to human creativity and optimists who view it as an extension of our creative abilities. It raises questions about originality in art and how to engage critically with AI-made artworks. The narrative introduces artists like Mario Klingemann, Sofia Crespo, Sara Ludy, and Ivona Tau, who are pushing the boundaries of AI in art, using techniques such as neural network interpretations, Outpainting, and GAN training to curate and create unique pieces of art.
🌐 Co-creating with AI: The Future of Art and Technology
The second paragraph focuses on the collaborative aspect of creating art with AI, as exemplified by artists like Claire Silver who intentionally work with AI to produce art that evolves with the tools. It describes the process of using inpainting techniques and feeding AI-generated images into different models to create new forms of language and understanding for the machine. The paragraph also draws inspiration from renowned artists and discusses the concept of AI models as different 'languages' due to their distinct training sets. It concludes with a call to embrace the technological future and the expanded creative possibilities it brings, emphasizing the importance of looking to artists' work to become culturally literate in the new era of AI and technology.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡AI Art
💡Machine Learning Models
💡Neural Networks
💡Originality
💡Curation
💡Outpainting
💡GAN (Generative Adversarial Networks)
💡Collaborative AI Artist
💡Inpainting Techniques
💡Algorithmic Memory
💡Cultural Literacy
Highlights
AI art is produced by machine learning models like DALL-E, Stable Diffusion and Midjourney, generating everything from strange life forms to imaginary influencers.
AI as a technology is fascinating because we are inherently drawn to things we cannot understand.
Neural networks process data from thousands of images, producing visuals that are both familiar and strikingly unfamiliar.
AI mirrors us and the world is beginning to change with two schools of thought - pessimists who see AI as a threat to human creativity and optimists who view it as an extension of our creativity.
Mario Klingemann sold an AI-generated piece in 2019, using a model trained on thousands of portraits from the 17th to 19th centuries.
Sofia Crespo's 'Neural Zoo' series uses neural network interpretations to generate unreal sea creatures and diverse biological forms.
Sara Ludy's abstract piece began as a digital painting, then was augmented using DALL-E 2's Outpainting feature to extend creativity beyond the frame.
Ivona Tau's work is the result of GAN training on her personal photo collection, with her curating the inputs and outputs for the model.
AI art is a form of curation, involving the selection from hundreds of images at a time.
Claire Silver calls herself a 'collaborative AI artist', working intentionally with the machine to produce her art.
Silver often uses inpainting techniques, masking and transforming small parts of an image to create new forms of language and understanding for the machine.
Her work is a blend of master painting and digital art, combining old and new.
Different AI models, trained on different information, are like speaking different languages.
We are all now collectively co-creating with AI, whether we are aware of it or not.
To be culturally literate in these new kinds of images, predictions and forms, looking to the work of artists is a productive place to start.
We need to prepare for an increasingly technological future that will multiply the creative possibilities at our fingertips.
AI art raises moral, ethical, aesthetic and critical questions about the role of machines in the creative process.
Artists are pushing the boundaries of AI, using it as a tool to enhance their creativity rather than replace it.
The encounter with AI art is a moral and ethical one, as much as it is an aesthetic encounter.