In recent years, humans have become more and more dependent on technology. One of the newer forms, which is increasingly being used in different aspects of our lives, is AI. Humans have already been using AI for simpler things in life. But recently, AIs have started showing signs of competence in more complicated matters such as writing professional texts and creating a controversial form of art. But is what they create real art?

What is Art?

To be honest, there is no single accepted definition of art. Everyone has their unique definition and interpretations. Oxford dictionary has different definitions for the word “art”, and one of them is: “works produced by human creative skill and imagination.” Based on this definition, we know that AI can’t create art. But there are two problems:

First, this isn’t a universally accepted definition. You and I might have different definitions of what art is. One might agree with this statement, or one might disagree. And it’s not something people can easily find a common ground in. After all, after thousands of years, we are not using a single definition yet!

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Second, although the AI is indeed creating art, the AI itself was created by humans. The AI is only capable of creating what it has been programmed for and the data we have exposed it to. It means that any creativity we see from AI is, in fact, the creativity of its creator.

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This brings up the question of what AI is and what it is consisted of.

What is AI?

The term Artificial Intelligence was first coined by John McCarthy, now known as AI’s father. Simply speaking, AI is intelligence demonstrated by machines and not by humans. There are, of course, technical explanations and terms, but this should suffice for us. To know if AI art is real art or not, we have to consider three important factors that many believe are the foundation of AI.

Hardware

AIs run on supercomputers, computers with massive amounts of computing power. These computers are nothing like what we use for our daily needs. A general computer has around one trillion FPOPS (floating-point operations per second) computing power, while a supercomputer has one quadrillion FPOPS, around 1000 times more computing power. If we compare AI to a human, the hardware is like how smart a person is.

Algorithm

An AI’s main elements are the algorithms making it. These algorithms are formulas based upon which the AI can make decisions for its actions. These algorithms are written by expert teams. The AI might need tens of complex algorithms to perform a simple task. What makes the AI intellectual is its ability to learn and write new patterns based on the data it’s given.

Data

The third element is data or the information provided to AI. Without Data, AI is just an empty formula. Without input, there won’t be output either. AIs are presented with a huge amount of data, so they can learn from them, that is, create new algorithms and patterns.

If we compare AI with the example of a student trying to solve a math problem:

• The amount of computing power the AI has is similar to how smart the student is.
• The algorithms AI has at its disposal are similar to the formulas the student has learned.
• The data provided to AI, the information the math problem has disclosed to the student.

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The Answer

There is no one answer to the question of “Is AI art Real?”. I don’t plan to give you an answer either. I have mentioned some general information so far, and I’m going to draw upon them to get to some logical interpretations.

• As I said earlier, there is no agreed-upon definition of what art is. However, no matter how to define art, part of its nature will always remain abstract and subjective, making it always open to new interpretations.
• Only part of the nature of the art is abstract, you can understand the other tangible part through the five senses. Looking around us, we see different forms of art. Painting, sculpture, and drawing are only some examples of different forms of art.
• Art has certain characteristics which make it what it is. These features vary based on our definitions of art. Some might say beauty, some might say a second layer of meaning, or some might even discard such things and consider any form of creativity to be art. Whatever our selected characteristics are, we should look for them in the work produced by AI.
• And for the most important point, humans ultimately create AI. It’s our work and creativity that gives life to art. Without providing the AI with its most important part, algorithms, an AI cannot learn or create anything.

Conclusion

Considering these points, whatever an AI creates, is indirectly the work of humans, whether we consider it art or not. One could even say that AI-generated art can be superior compared to that of humans. The reason is quite simple: when an artist creates art in any form, he knows what he is doing. But when a programmer or a team of programmers try to create an AI to generate art, they don’t have direct control over what the AI learns from the data it’s exposed to, and what new algorithms and patterns it creates. Thus, creating art is much of a much harder goal to achieve with an AI than what an artist does! Depending on your definition of art, none of the above might be true. As I said, there is no one answer to this question. You have to decide for yourself!