AI Art's Purpose

by Anita Benedict

While on a recent visit to my Aunt and Uncle, I was offered a tour of his AI art gallery; also known as their house. His art is everywhere, whatever he can imagine is on display to be viewed.

   Some of his pieces of art are definitely stunning, you think it is a photograph capturing a moment, not a computer capturing and editing a person’s vision. Thankfully, he has a peaceful mind so the images were not disturbing, and even his “oddities” were wonderfully imaginative and quirky. I didn’t think I would like AI art, but it has its purpose and beauty.

   My friend was gifted a photo of she and my aunt at a recent event. She could not imagine where it had been taken, it did not resemble anywhere they had been, but she knew the clothes. How easy it seems to remove the old back drop and add in something beautiful if you know what you are doing.

   I have seen people fooled on Facebook by AI images. Photos of beautiful plants that don’t exist, people placed in a photo that looks very real, and even make kittens dance and sing. That one truly disappointed me, I wanted my cat to dance and sing. (just kidding, I knew they couldn’t) It looks like fun but oh how dangerous when in the wrong hands. There are subtle differences, but some are not always as obvious.

   We call out “fake’ news and for good reason these days, but not necessarily from our established news stations. We have to question so much; we can no longer trust our brains or eyes. We have been conditioned over the last few years to not believe. I find that if I study an image like it was a photo, you can see the changes in the posing of a body, where the arms are positioned,  etc. but then even if it is real, the caption could be misleading. It is enough to make a person scream at the world to just stop.

 Have you noticed the AI option on your Facebook? You can ask it to change what you say to something “heartfelt” or “inspirational” or even professional. You can even imagine with AI and add to your post, at least they tell you to acknowledge it is AI.

 AI- Artificial Intelligence, like something out of a “Star Trek Voyager” television show with a doctor who is a hologram. That would be an intelligent use for this new technology, but instead, we try to make beautiful pictures of an already beautiful world that we simply don’t see except for what we can exploit, or we use it to manipulate the minds and opinions of others.

 My favourite of my uncle’s art pieces were those that were abstract. There was so much to see in one photo and to interpret and they made you think. Maybe there are times, when overwhelmed, that we are at a loss for words and we need a little help to write that heartfelt message. But the more we seem to use artificial intelligence, we lose a bit of the real thing.