The art world is already starting to see the influx of AI generated artwork and it is getting better and better. 6 months ago you were lucky to get a crudely crafted image but now it is quite amazing what you can get and it is only going to get better. So what effect is this going to have on artists and content creators?
It used to be that if you want a bespoke piece of art you would have to commission it from an artist, some of the fun is finding an art style or artist that you like and getting a commission that you know is a one of a kind made exactly for you. For better or worse you can now do exactly that with your computer, at home, for free. Give an AI the instructions of what you want and it will generate dozens of unique versions of what you have asked for and by simply adjusting the words and clicking the style of work you are leaning towards it will generate unique artwork for you each and every single time.
So what does the future look like for artists? Some artists are already boycotting AI but this is a fallacy just like the film photographers who boycotted digital cameras and the painters who once tried to boycott the use of computers for art. AI generated art is here to stay and artists will need to adapt to the reality of it. The largest impact is going to be on the extremely talented artists and creators that carved out a type of art that was once quite difficult to do well, think the top 10% of animators, cartoonists & illustrators. For these people their skills were demanding the top dollars and with good reason because the level of skill required to create good quality content takes years to master.
Unfortunately for creators making a living on their art the cost to create unique digital art is going to crash, so for some people the hay days may be over, but I can still see a select few still demand the same dollar value for their work but the amount of work and demand may diminish quite drastically.
This is an example of what AI can do right now but the staggering reality is it is still in its infancy:
Now I may not be getting exactly what I want, in fact when I got an AI to generate images of myself this is what was returned. As you can see in most of these images there is a “stoic” look to a lot of the images and this is not what I was expecting back considering I was smiling in half of my reference images. Yes, with AI I can keep giving it different references or more prompts to change the look and style of the images but you eventually get to the point of diminishing returns where it either doesn’t quite do what you want or you accept the work as it is. This is where I see the use of digital artists in the future, they will use AI as a tool and a lot of artists will be “photoshopping” and adjusting things to get exactly what is required.
Artists need to accept AI is going to shift what society now requires from them, the majority are now going to either be working with AI or need to move to a more physical medium and pick up the paint brush or modelling clay.
Here are some more examples of what different AI art can generate today:
I have a nine year old daughter who already knows she wants to be an artist when she grows up. I haven’t encouraged her to use AI generated art yet because I want to foster her creativity and drawing skills but we will embrace the tech together, she is already using drawing tablets and art is always going to be needed. But “what is an artist going to be doing in 10 years time” is my question.
