A painting created using artificial intelligence has won first prize in the Colorado State Fair’s digital art competition, and the work and decision have since stirred up quite a bit of controversy surrounding the role of artificial intelligence in art.
TL;DR — Someone entered an art competition with an AI-generated piece and won the first prize.
— Genel Jumalon ?? ARTapalooza Cedar Falls (@GenelJumalon) August 30, 2022
Yeah that's pretty fucking shitty. pic.twitter.com/vjn1IdJcsL
The artist, a video game developer named Jason Allen, used Midjourney to create his piece titled Théâtre D’opéra Spatial. Midjourney is an AI that converts text descriptions into images, and Allen spent around 80 hours crafting the set of descriptions for Midjourney to use.
Allen claims he made contest officials aware that his work had been created using AI, and the contest’s guidelines only stipulated the use of “digital technology as part of the creative or presentation process,” not explicitly prohibiting AI. Both judges involved in awarding the prize state that while they were unaware of the use of AI at the time of their decision, they stand by it, citing the “story,” and “spirit it invokes,” which remain true no matter how it was created.
Allen says that he wanted to make a statement with his piece and he has certainly done just that. Many people are angry that a work created by an AI was even allowed to compete with pieces made by human artists, claiming AI devalues art as a whole.
We’re watching the death of artistry unfold right before our eyes — if creative jobs aren’t safe from machines, then even high-skilled jobs are in danger of becoming obsolete
— OmniMorpho (@OmniMorpho) August 31, 2022
What will we have then?
Others fear for the role of the artist in the future, and wonder what impact on job security capable AI could have in the world of art, sketching, and even other industries.
The art created by AI is not the same as that created by man. I believe that at least it should be in a separate category and not overlap with ordinary art in any way. People like the person from the screenshot are just disgusting to me. https://t.co/JiaXmhC9Y8
— Araivis-Edelveys (@AraivisEdelveys) August 31, 2022
The bigger issue is that (presumably), the judges didn't realize it was AI, and still thought it was good enough to win. Doesn't bode well for the "human vs AI" illustration discussion.
— Seth Rutledge BLM/TLM - End Russian Tyranny (@eldritch48) August 30, 2022
It's been 25 years since Deep Blue beat Gary Kasparov, and we collectively decided that elite-level chess was simply a better, more enjoyable human-centric domain when we didn't have to compete with AI specifically designed to trounce us.
— fluxophile (@fluxophile) August 30, 2022
We need to do the same now for art.
The AI is not a person, but the person who generated it by typing words into the AI is not an artist. They created nothing. At best, they collaborated. A collaboration they can take credit for because there’s no human on the other end. This should not be allowed. It’s terrible.
— ?Chris Shehan (@ChrisShehanArt) August 31, 2022
Ultimately it’s hard to argue that Théâtre D’opéra Spatial is not a striking piece. Whether Jason Allen played a primary role in that, however, is a different question.
While speculation on the role of AI in the future can be scary, for now, it is just another color in an artist’s palette, like a paintbrush, a crayon, a marker, a pencil, or a digital tool, for which this particular Colorado State Fair competition was named.
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