Because I mentioned Deviantart’s AI art generator briefly in a rrecent post (and because I’ve been slacking a bit on word count lately), I thought I’d state my position on AI visual art in general.

In a word: ambivalent.

On the one hand, I’m old enough to remember some of the same “it isn’t real art” arguments being used against Photoshop. I’m not quite old enough to have seen the heyday of “photography isn’t real art,” but I’ve not only heard that story but can find hints of painting snobbery on the Net to this day.

So that argument doesn’t hit as hard as its users intend.

On the other hand… you know Sturgeon’s Law (“90 percent of everything is crud”)? Well, that’s in mature art forms that have accrued a solid skill base. What I’ve seen of AI art seems to be closer to 99.9 percent crud…

 

Or to put it in visual language:

That’s a meat grinder. Obvious metaphor is obvious. But I’m using that particular image of a meat grinder not just because it’s licensed CC0, but because I like its lighting and composition a bit more than some of the other images I found.

And on another level, I had a pretty decent burger yesterday and might have a cheese dog or two tonight, so even thoroughly processed meat can be enjoyed…