AN ANALYTICAL PERSPECTIVE ON THE
"ART" ADVENTURE OF HUMANS AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
The concept of "art" is
the field of creativity, the only feature of being human. As the artistic
prowess of Artificial intelligence emerges in a fast-moving world, it raises
questions we've never encountered before about what it means to be "human".
What kind of a period will "art", which is the result of human
concepts such as existence, society, communication, subconscious, emotions,
imagination, intuition, love, sensitivity, impulse, instinct, dream,
originality and of course, creativity, enter into a period with Artificial
intelligence (AI)? With its revolutionary technology that will change
production, thinking, lifestyles and the future, will artificial intelligence,
which is designed to replace people in other fields of activity, be more creative
than humans in the field of art and reach the competence to challenge the
artist?
According to Hegel, art carries the
spirit of the artist, who is transferred to matter and likens matter to
himself. Well, since the products created by machines without a soul today are
not generated by an artist, can they carry spirit and meaning?
For years, computer technology has
already made an impact and contribution to visual arts with image technologies
such as vector, bitmap, 3D, CGI as a tool that creates, processes and changes
the image. Today, many smart image generators such as Stable Diffusion, DALL-E,
Craiyon, Midjourney, Nightcafe Ai, etc. are software systems that can
statistically evaluate themselves over large datasets containing millions of
images, train themselves, and produce new images that are not included in the
original dataset. Not just images, AI is already being used in other branches
of the arts to create music, poetry, sculpture, stories, articles and films.
There are many new questions and
concepts such as whether the products created by a system that has human skills
but is not human are real works of art, whether programmers and machines will
be accepted as artists, whether AI products can be included in the broad and
general definition of art. Although there are objections, acceptances, doubts,
different opinions, it has been met with great interest by the majority.
First of all, it is necessary to
talk about the concepts of “art” and “artist”. In its most general definition,
art is a reflection of the human mind and cultural evolution, an expression of
creativity, way of thinking and imagination. The artist, on the other hand, is
the one who makes art with the awareness of "being human", humanizes
and shapes life, and realizes the phenomenon of art with action. The artist
combines facts with aesthetic elements from a different point of view and
records them in social memory. Behind his creative works lie deep stories of
man, his age and society. He uses his imagination, patience, enthusiasm and
self-sacrificing efforts to embed his passions, memories, dreams, imaginary and
abstract ideas, symbols, philosophy and his inner world, the dynamics of the
era and society he lives in, with aesthetic expressions. The process of
creating the artist's art is complex and difficult, while filtering everything
he is affected by and incorporating it into his works. He feels both sadness
and happiness most deeply, and experiences his anxiety and pleasure at the
highest level.
Art originates from life and human beings
and belongs to humans. “Art is an object made by man for man. “ (E.H.Gombrich,
The Story of Art) This is a very accurate definition and “Art” is based on a
human-made phenomenon that takes its source from the human artist and seeks
meaning with its historical, social accumulation and imagination; existence
occurs in the unity of human, artist, meaning, aesthetic object and aesthetic
taste. In this respect, there is a deep bond of existence between man, art and
work of art that complements each other.
The artist searches for the meanings
behind artistic intentions and desires and vital phenomena. Since AI is not a
living, emotional being, it lacks imagination, the reality of its external
world, and the qualities of being human. Unfortunately, those who claim in
advance that the products of AI are art, underestimate the artist who realizes
the thousands-year-old deep source of art and the artistic production process,
and find it unnecessary to question the artist's effort and necessity.
Decisions made by those who do not know the depth of the creative process,
without entering the enthusiastic world of an artist, are in favor of accepting
and affirming AI products without questioning them. We see that the capitalist
world, which wants to benefit from the stimulating effect of the trade created
by AI products, has great expectations to use this situation in its favor and
turn it into money.
The production process of AI is
formed by the combination of computer, programmer, data, algorithm, output,
aesthetic taste of the receptive subject. Since AI does not perform its actions
by focusing on aesthetic values, aesthetic harmony and meaning, the output it
produces is only a sensory, aesthetic value uncertain, non-essential, formal
object. Because it lacks the subjective point of view and the values of the
special creation process in the mind of an artist. The software, which does not
take its source from the human mind, does not have emotions, and produces from
ready-made data, has the potential to produce likeable outputs. It can even
produce outputs, albeit rare, that, by chance, can give aesthetic pleasure and
cause emotional and artistic excitement in people. Again, it is the receptive
subject himself who adds artistic value to such an output with his artistic disposition,
education and dreams. Because, while the output is devoid of a communication
basis, an expression to be conveyed and has no artistic value, the perception
style, psychological orientation and point of view of the receptive subject who
establishes the communication raise the output to the value of an object that
gives aesthetic pleasure. The receptive subject participates in the process
with its level of perception of the object, aesthetic judgment and creativity,
and needs the qualities of its own self and visual capacity. With a
subjectivist attitude, he takes the artistic value not from the object but from
his own psychology, customizes the object with his own emotions and attributes
a meaning to the output. What makes the output of AI valuable is not the
qualities of the aesthetic object formed by the activity of an artist, but the
way of seeing of the receptive subject.
The work of art is a human creation,
the creative subject is the artist. The artist produces by adding meaning to
his work, and the visible form has a meaning integrity, a unity of form and
content. In his work, the artist formally expresses a reality about life in his
work. That is, the meaning is not added after making the work, and the meaning
exists as a substance in the mind of the artist before the work takes shape. In
the work, the expression to be conveyed without communicating with the
receptive subject is already present and ready; all this is hidden in the work
as a reality and waits to be seen by a competent receptive subject. This is the
process of discovery of the work of a spirit that repeats the aesthetic
creation formed in the artist's soul. The receptive subject, who judges the
output of artificial intelligence, lacks the pleasure and effort of creating,
perceiving and recreating the expression level of the artist, that is, the
human being. Because understanding and making sense of a work of art requires
an effort like the creativity of the artist.
E.H. “We cannot hope to understand a
work of art if we do not have the ability to share that sense of liberation and
triumph that the artist has over his finished work,” says Gombrich.
We see that while art is realized
with the connection of the artist, the work (aesthetics) and the receptive
subject (aesthetic interest), the process in the AI product takes place with
the connection of data, algorithm, object (sensory) and receptive subject
(aesthetic interest).
Human art is the aesthetic
relationship between man and objective reality and includes artistic reality.
Its source is life, human, society, created by the artist, it focuses on the
whole process and is holistic. It is based on the reproduction of the aesthetic
values that the artist brings to the object by the receptive subject, the
connections and interaction with the aesthetic judgment. It is directly and
tightly connected to human practice, society and social life. The work of art
is personal, original, and the artist has a compositional knowledge and skill
that will require much more than repetitions, different blending and attachment
techniques in AI output. In a way that takes its origins from life and focuses
on the soul and meaning, art considers beauty as a unity of values. Like
artificial intelligence, it focuses not only on the result, but also on the whole
process, and this is what we need to distinguish.
Although AI is capable of
creativity, this does not mean that it is an artist. Likewise, neither a
programmer nor an algorithm is an artist. Because their production is outside
of the vital, emotional, spiritual and meaning integrity we have explained
above, they produce automatically and with commands. The algorithm does not
create the object by considering artistic values, qualities and concerns, that
is, the algorithm is not aware that it is dealing with art, so it is not
conscious of reality. It scans the database and generates predictive
compositions with the ability to fuse, add, subtract, associate and learn.
Artificial
intelligence products can only be at the limit of the general definition of art.
The creation process is automatic and is not identical with human art with the
layers of existence it has; the source, formation and result are realized by a
completely different method. Therefore, it is a phenomenon of experimental
production that, although it is ostentatious and surprising, is not competent,
imitates art as a form, its essence is incomplete, although it gives the
impression of art.
Based on the context of reality, the
search for meaning, the layers of existence and the social source of life, it
would be appropriate to call it "Human Art" because it represents
human beings, and "Artificial Intelligence Art" because it is created
by codes. Because we cannot see artificial intelligence, which enters art as a
separate actor, as if it is making productions of the same value as human
beings and art. What makes human art valuable is that it tells its own story
and the struggle for existence with the accumulation of thousands of years of
creation process.
As AI enters more and more
scientific, everyday and artistic and human fields, we have to make the rules,
boundaries and definitions of human domain, arrangements, positioning and
criticisms that include what human being is, to remain "human". The
important thing is to create and place concepts that will preserve the depth,
value, originality, creativity and freedom of the human domain. While doing
this, we should determine the roles by defining the field that artificial
intelligence, that is, the machine can have. For this reason, the categorical
distinction was made as "Human Art" and "AI Art" because it
was based on codes. To make both the same, to say that both achieve similar
goals in different ways, is a disrespectful, unfair approach to art and the
artist and should be objected to.
Of course, AI will enable artists to
create new and original products through collaborative work as a resource to
benefit from. With artificial intelligence in artistic creation, the artist can
expand his creativity, get inspired, try new things, and also think of
artificial intelligence as a collaboration tool. Even if the artist is involved
in the creation process of the products created by this collaboration, even if
he has the initiative, the use of AI based on the source codes will bring about
discussions.
The approach to artificial
intelligence products will also mean the sincerity exam of people. The artist
and no one should not escape easily, and try to show stolen ideas or directly
as his own work. It should not make an effort to reflect worthless products as
if they are valuable.
Deciding whether the output has
value and the quality of its connection with the art means reaching the big
problem area in art. A wide variety of factors should be taken into account
while making an aesthetic interpretation. Knowing who the work belongs to is
also a factor that will affect our decision. Interpreting a work that is not
clear by whom it was generated may cause exaggeration or vice versa,
underestimation and incompleteness. Evaluating an object as artistic and
beautiful is relative (apart from reconciliation with assumptions that make
aesthetic judgment general and based on common feeling) and is difficult, but
this is a mysterious and normal state of art.
Artificial intelligence will be an
encouraging and supportive force with its ease not only for artists, but for
everyone. In addition, the copyright problem of the entries that make up the
database should be solved, and the rights of the artist and everyone else who
does not want to be in the database should be respected.
It should never be forgotten that;
The importance of painters and painting did not decrease with the invention of
photography, the transformation of smart phones into talented cameras did not
turn everyone into a photographer, AI cannot turn anyone into miraculous and
fantastic artists, nor transfer talents.
While the subject is being
discussed, painting is generally focused on because of its popularity. But how
do we react when AI produces an image with details and visual quality
indistinguishable from a real photograph? Especially when we compare it with
documentary photography, the situation will become more complicated. At this
stage, the values shaped in our aesthetic, emotional and imaginary world, which
we judge the paintings, will not be enough. We will need to ask whether the
photograph is based on objective reality, and we will build our judgmental
values after the definition of reality. Because, as a document, that photograph
is real, it reflects the state of the world while connecting the lived past to
the future, it has a place and a story, it is direct, it is a human and social
memory and transfers it to other generations. The photograph created by AI has
no story, it only depicts unreal scenes with automatic editing, and the
composition is created only with the ability to imitate. Such a photograph will
not go beyond an image that only arouses technical admiration before the
viewer. For this reason, I think that unmanipulated and documentary photography
will become more valuable in the future. Because it will never lose its value
as a tool that reflects reality and directly reflects events.
Can you consider William
Turner's painting "The Slave Ship" separately from the
historical, social, reality of the outside world and the dynamics of the
artist's inner world? This painting is not just a painting, it is a work that
has meanings far beyond the painting. Now let's imagine that a similar picture
is generated by artificial intelligence. Even if pictorial values, light and
composition are used appropriately, what historical, artistic, cultural,
emotional value can it have? In other words, in the background of art, there
are stories of life and a context, while artificial art has nothing to tell, it
is a storyless phenomenon that is disconnected from the context of reality, as
a product of a system under the control of virtual codes, and has no history.
In today's society, communication
habits have changed, the world of possibilities has grown, and even
magicalized. AI "image generators" give everyone the opportunity to
be creative, and thanks to their amazing ability, they make this experience
available to millions of people. Even a child who has learned to read and write
can accidentally create remarkable products in front of his computer. It does
not make anyone who can write keywords to the computer and who does not have
artistic personality and creativity an artist and does not include them in art.
Millions of people are attracted to this attractive game without age limit and
are entertained by its amazing and strange results, as if they have achieved a
magical power. It is more accurate to call them "experimental
participants". It is a fact that outliers, complex, uncertain, surreal,
mystical, imagination-stimulating images attract a lot of attention. Friedrich
Schiller and his theory that art is a game come to mind. But in his theory,
Schiller meant real art. Besides, art is a much more complex phenomenon than
play.
Although the outputs are strange,
unencountered, interesting and attractive, as they multiply uncontrollably in
the internet environment, they have a high potential to turn into habitual,
valueless, artificial, ordinary objects.
It is human beings who will stand
against the destructiveness of technology and protect humanity. Being human,
despite your shortcomings, is unique. Do we have the human intelligence,
virtue, honesty, will, courage and plan to use the future to be a better human
being “together” and to create a world based on beauty and equality? While AI
becomes human, we never want a role change where people become automatic,
ineffective and robotic.
Man interprets and makes sense of
life with his art, resists against time, and transfers his relationship with
life to the art environment in freedom with his searches and discoveries. Art
is formed in reality through "labor" by the artist. All innovations
and technological changes should never be allowed to trivialize art and artists.
Because Artificial Intelligence lacks the human touch, love, impulses and, in
short, a life.
Einstein said, "The criterion
of being intelligent is not knowledge but imagination," and reconciling
human imagination with intelligence.
Akil Alparslan / 01 2023
