Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, recently there has been a huge uptake in the use of Artificial Intelligence, particularly in the world of digital art. Unsurprisingly, there is an almost polarised opinion on this, from people loving and embracing it, to those who would like to see its users burnt at the stake with the many servers used to act as the fuel source.
To be clear from the outset, I use and enjoy using AI to create images, either in part of a final result, or as the image itself. Recently I heard of an Influencer who used AI image creation to show her taking part in a number of events and activities that she could never do in real life because of her disabilities. She proudly and with humour showed these results… and was bombarded by the Keyboard Warriors decrying her efforts.
There is much to say that AI is killing “art”. “Artists can no longer make a living” it is claimed, “you just type in a few words and the results are there for you”. Well yes, but with the rise of digital cameras and (importantly) almost free image editing apps you can already produce images – and if you have a printer as well… well that’s that. I dare say the watercolour artists were up in arms when with a single click and image was captured and within a day you had a reproducable image. And when Digital Cameras came in, old style cameras pretty much hit the dirt (where I used to live in Harrow, London, Kodak was a major employer; with the rise of digital imagery there was less need for paper and chemicals; now the whole site is a huge housing estate).
Around my house we have a lot of art; some physical, some printed. The art that is in frames is currently running at about 30-40% my drawings and the rest are purchased. That’s what’s printed. There are many, many more images held digitally (I’d suggest that of all the art we have, about 5% may be physical). When I started my hobby in Toy photography, I would build the scene and then photograph it. Then I moved to using physical cards (these might be A4 background cards, but also greetings cards). This year, I started to photograph the toy onto a single colour sheet, then edit the toy into an AI generated image.
Given my photography is now all taken, edited, cropped, uploaded and shared from a single device, I’m also aware how much editing I have done to the image, and how much editing is being undertaken by the phone and the apps; from focusing the image, filling in on list pixels, adjusting the colour balance, removing and cloning areas of the image to remove the bits that don’t appear, adding shadows and “stickers”; realistically the “actual” photography “through the lens” is very minimal.
And as I discovered when I photographed a Barbie model this year, if the phone recognises that there is a face in the image, it will allow you to make quick and simple adjustments to the eyes, cheeks, mouth – and that’s without adding bunny ears!
There is a lot of technology that is being used badly and there is a lot of technology that can be to the detriment of society. But as we look around today’s society, we can see that managers are now typing and presenting their work from their laptop (doing away with the typing pool, the presentation teams, plus the typewriter manufacturers); weddings no longer need professional photographers (because everyone’s got a camera); DJs (because everyone has Spotify) and musicians (because everyone has a Macbook Pro). In truth though, these teams and roles still exist, possibly in a slightly different way, but that’s because things have changed. Even social media plays its part in presenting information; it wasn’t that many years ago when the thought that I could write this, click “Publish” and it would be seen instantly around the world without the need to engage a publisher, or an author, or get a journalist’s license (if you needed one) or get hired by a paper – would all seem impossible. Again, it wasn’t that long ago when a holiday abroad would mean you wouldn’t know what was going on in the world until you got back; or if you did get a paper it would be at least 24 hours old.
The Black Crane 