Ai and Artists, partners or opponents in the battle for creative supremacy?
AI and artists can be seen as both partners and opponents in the battle for creative supremacy. That’s if creative supremacy is even a thing. On one hand, AI can assist artists by providing new tools and techniques for creation, allowing them to explore new avenues of expression and push the boundaries of what is possible. For example, AI can help artists generate new ideas and designs, automate tedious tasks, and even create new artworks from scratch.
I spent some time working with DALL E yesterday and used one of my images to initiate a DALL E Variation and the result is below with the original “African Daisy in a Bottle” on the left. I also tried out the website Images.AI to generate a 3D version of the Joa Jerboa character I had created with some interested results (included at the end of this post). There are definitely more creative avenues to explore on the road to producing engaging and interesting images.

On the other hand, AI can also be seen as a threat to the traditional notion of the artist as the sole creator of a work of art. This is because AI-generated art challenges the idea of authorship and originality, as well as raises questions about the value of human creative effort. In some cases, AI-generated artworks may even be indistinguishable from those created by humans, making it difficult to attribute value to a particular artist’s work.
There’s an interesting exhibit at the MIT Museum that explores the nature of art and artists through the lens of technology advancements and the places and spaces where art and Ai coalesces or collides. John Durant, Director, MIT Museum said “We’re here to turn MIT inside out. We want people to understand what contemporary research and innovation are all about and what they mean for everyday life.” Watch the video on PBSO News Hour here.
Ultimately, the relationship between AI and artists is complex and multi-faceted. While AI has the potential to both enhance and undermine the creative process, the future of art and creativity will likely be shaped by the way that artists and technologists collaborate and interact with each other. Some see AI as an opportunity to expand the creative possibilities and explore new forms of expression, while others see it as a threat to the unique role of the artist in the creation of art.
Posing questions and inviting dialogue is a good place to begin to unravel the possibilities and the pitfalls as the technology develops.

ps. This blog post was a collaboration between myself and AI text generator ChatGPT