In our increasingly digital world, the boundaries of creativity are being tested in ways that were once confined to the realms of science fiction. Imagine sitting in your living room, watching a machine effortlessly paint a masterpiece, compose a symphony, or write a poem. It’s a scene that might evoke awe or discomfort, depending on your perspective. But as I found myself recently gazing at an image generated by an AI, I couldn’t help but ask, “Is this really art?”
I was reminded of a time when, as a child, I spent hours laboriously painting a landscape for an art class. My brushstrokes were clumsy, my colors a little off, but the pride I felt was immense. It wasn’t just the final product that mattered—it was the process, the emotions, the intent behind each stroke. That painting, with all its imperfections, was an expression of who I was at that moment.
Fast-forward to the present and I found myself staring at a beautiful image created by a large language model in mere seconds. It was stunning and technically flawless, but it left me questioning its essence. The machine that produced it had no intention, no emotion, no personal history. It was a tool—powerful and impressive—but a tool nonetheless.
This brings us to a pressing question: If art is fundamentally about human expression and agency, can something generated by a machine ever truly be considered art? In this quick essay, I’ll explore this question, examining the role of human agency in art, the nature of AI as a creative tool, and what the future might hold as we navigate this new landscape of creativity.
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Art, at its core, is an expression of human experience—our joys, sorrows, hopes, and fears captured in a form that can be shared with others. Whether it’s a brush gliding across a canvas, a chisel shaping marble, or fingers dancing across a keyboard, the essence of art lies in the intent and emotion behind it. This brings us to the intriguing intersection where technology meets creativity. When an artist uses a paintbrush, every stroke carries the weight of their thoughts, feelings, and intentions. The effort required, the time invested, and the skill honed over years of practice all contribute to the final piece.
But what happens when the tool in the artist’s hand isn’t a brush or a chisel, but a large language model, an AI that can generate images with a few lines of code? At first glance, it might seem that something essential is lost—the painstaking labor, the tactile connection to the medium, the slow and deliberate process of creation. Yet, if we look closer, we can see that human agency and expression are still very much at the heart of AI-generated art.
The artist using AI isn’t removed from the creative process; rather, they are directing it in a different way. The AI might generate the image, but it’s the human who guides it—choosing the prompts, tweaking the parameters, selecting the final output. The artist’s vision, intent, and emotional resonance are embedded in these choices. Just as a painter chooses their colors and a sculptor their materials, the digital artist shapes the AI’s output through a series of deliberate decisions.
Yes, the amount of physical effort and time required may differ significantly from traditional methods, but this doesn’t diminish the art’s value or authenticity. Consider a photographer capturing a moment with a single click—a process that takes mere seconds but results in a powerful, evocative image. The effort might be minimal in terms of physical labor, but the artistry lies in the photographer’s eye for composition, light, and timing. In the same way, the artist who uses AI is not simply pressing a button; they are using their creativity, intuition, and aesthetic judgment to bring forth something that didn’t exist before.
In this sense, AI-generated art is still art because it involves human expression, just mediated through a different tool. The process may be less labor-intensive, but the human touch—our agency and our emotional input—remains central. This shift in how art is created challenges our traditional notions of artistry, but it also opens up new possibilities for what art can be. After all, art has always evolved alongside technology, from the invention of the camera to the rise of digital media. AI is just the latest tool in the artist’s toolkit, offering new ways to express the human experience in all its complexity.
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It’s tempting to view AI-generated art as a monolith—something uniformly produced by machines, without the nuances or variations that we associate with human creativity. But this assumption overlooks an essential truth: not all AI art is created equal. Just as there is a spectrum of quality in human-created art, ranging from the amateur to the masterful, there is a similar range in AI art. And much like traditional art, the quality of AI-generated work depends heavily on the artist behind it—their choices, their vision, and the amount of effort they are willing to invest.
In fact, the notion that AI-generated art simply “appears” without effort is a misconception. While AI can quickly generate a rough draft, the final polished product often requires significant refinement. It’s easy to assume that the use of AI reduces the amount of creative labor, but in reality, creating a truly compelling piece with AI still demands artistic judgment, editing, and often substantial post-processing. It’s not unlike the difference between sketching an outline and producing a fully realized painting—the initial step is just the beginning.
Artists working with AI must choose prompts carefully, refine outputs, and often combine multiple generated pieces before they arrive at something that feels complete. AI can provide a wide range of ideas, but it is the artist’s responsibility to shape, refine, and polish those ideas into something coherent and meaningful. This involves a deep understanding of composition, color theory, balance, and the emotional tone of the piece—qualities that AI alone cannot provide without human input.
The question, then, becomes one of artistic effort: Is the work involved in guiding and refining AI art still artistic effort? To answer this, we might reflect on how we understand effort in traditional art. There are countless examples in history where artists have used shortcuts, tools, or techniques to make the creation process easier, but this doesn’t lessen the value of their work. For example, many renowned painters relied on assistants to help complete large commissions, yet the artistic vision remained theirs. Similarly, the use of a digital paintbrush or an AI model doesn’t make the resulting piece less artistic—it just shifts where the effort is applied.
The amount of “effort” required is also variable, depending on the artist’s ambition. Some artists may choose to engage deeply with the AI’s output, painstakingly refining every detail and working toward a high level of polish. Others might be satisfied with a raw, unpolished creation that conveys their intent in a looser, more abstract way. In both cases, the effort is a matter of choice, much like a painter deciding whether to work on a single piece for years or finish it in a day.
In this light, AI art isn’t just a shortcut to bypass creativity; it’s a tool that expands the artist’s ability to explore and refine ideas. And just like any tool, its success depends on how it’s used. If an artist simply allows the AI to produce an image without further intervention, the result may feel shallow or unfinished. But with skill and effort, the artist can elevate that initial output into something that feels profoundly human, filled with emotion and intent.
Ultimately, artistic effort is about more than just the physical labor of creation—it’s about the thought, care, and intention behind the work. Whether that effort comes in the form of traditional brushstrokes or digital refinement, it’s still an expression of the artist’s vision. And that, at its core, is what makes it art.
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In conclusion, while AI-generated art is fundamentally and semantically equivalent to human-created art—rooted in human agency and expression—it inevitably lacks the depth and richness that comes from the human experience. The ability to think, feel, and draw from personal emotions is what imbues art with its profound impact. Unless we reach a point where AI can truly think and feel—a scenario that raises far more complex and troubling ethical questions—AI art will always remain distinct from human art in its essence.
The current trajectory of the industry, exemplified by tools like Adobe’s Firefly system, shows us that AI can be a powerful ally in the creative process. These tools allow artists to fast-track their ideas, streamline production, and achieve more with less effort. However, as advanced as these technologies may become, the core of art—the human spirit, the nuanced understanding of emotion, and the lived experience—will always be irreplaceable.
Moreover, if we ever encounter a truly general artificial intelligence capable of genuine expression, it’s possible that the art it produces would be so alien to our understanding that it might not even be recognizable as art in the human sense. Such a being’s expression of reality could differ so fundamentally from ours that we might struggle to relate to or even comprehend it. Until then, art will remain an inherently human endeavor, a reflection of our unique way of experiencing and interpreting the world, regardless of the tools we employ in the pursuit of doing so.