Digital art is defined as “any artwork that draws upon digital technology as an essential part of its creative process.” (Hockney and Whiteread, 2023) It can be divided into four categories: digital painting and illustration, 3D modeling and animation, virtual reality experience, and online art exhibitions. 

Digital painting and illustration are some of the most common forms of digital art. It is defined as the creation of visuals using digital tools such as Adobe Illustrator, Procreate, or anything as simple as a mouse and a device. Procreate, a powerful 2-D digital illustration app, has thrived among content creators for its easy accessibility and cost-friendly nature. This app gives artists the experience and result of real-world drawing without extra spending on materials. 

Digital art also makes 3-D modeling possible. Modeling, one of the most in-demand artistic specialties, is used to produce a 3D digital representation of any subject or surface. Likewise, 3D models have various media, including video games, movies, architecture, illustration, and commercial advertising. Some museums, such as the Smithsonian, use VR to guide viewers around their galleries. Others, such as the Kremer Collection in the Netherlands, go further, trying to imagine how the perceived architecture of the virtual space can affect the user experience. The Kremer Museum, which launched in 2018 using Google Daydream headsets, is a good example of how new thinking about the VR user experience might attract broader audiences. The augmented reality experience is nothing like traditional art — it offers an immersive experience for the viewer from “within” the art. In this case, the art is the digital space itself. 

Recently, a new “art” medium seems to have surfaced into mainstream media out of nowhere, and it doesn’t involve humans in the creation process. AI-generated images have begun to show up more often, on TikTok filters and in other corners of the internet. A computer algorithm is “fed” hundreds upon thousands of images of art. This computer then “learns” the images — their overall aesthetics and various visual aspects. Then, the computer is able to consolidate the information it gathered from the database of images to generate images that apply traditional and non-traditional forms of art. 

While a number of definitions of artificial intelligence (AI) have surfaced over the last few decades, John McCarthy offers the following definition in his 2004 paper (McCarthy, 2004), “It is the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs. It is related to the similar task of using computers to understand human intelligence, but AI does not have to confine itself to methods that are biologically observable.” However, decades before this definition, the birth of the artificial intelligence conversation was denoted by Alan Turing's seminal work, “Computing Machinery and Intelligence,” which was published in 1950. In this paper, Turing, often referred to as the “father of computer science,” asks the following question, “Can machines think?” While the answer to this question remains unknown, it decides whether AI-generated images can be classified as fine art. Traditional fine arts, which is defined as “A visual art considered to have been created primarily for aesthetic and intellectual purposes and judged for its beauty and meaningfulness,” has been appreciated for centuries, if not from the origin of human history (Turing, 1950). 

From cave art to medieval manuscripts; from classical Greece to Romanticism, humans had always deemed art as a finer spiritual and intellectual pursuit. But the popularization of AI is shifting the development of fine art, maybe even revolutionizing it. It might seem that computer-generated art will only impact digital art, but that’s not the case. 

We can already find robots that use the same type of algorithms to create physical artworks. A great example of this is Ai-Da, a humanoid robot that can paint, sculpt, gesture, blink, and talk. Artists should be just a little bit worried considering her success. After her creation in 2019, Ai-Da sold more than $1 million in art during one of her art exhibits. Robots like her will keep making headlines, so human artists will be more incentivized to think about how they will make their art stand out to compete with “artificial art” (Davies, 2022).

Digital art significantly increases the diversity in the production of artworks. Many online illustrating and creating platforms can help overcome linguistic, cultural, and geographic barriers that often prevent artists from having access to the resources and means to create their art. 

Drawpile, a leading application in collaborative arts, allows artists from different cultures, backgrounds, and locations to work on digital art together. Similar to the process of creating a comic book, whose sketches, inking, color, and lettering are often handled by different people, Drawpile utilizes digital art to create a platform that brings diversity to art. This tool can also allow artists with physical disabilities or technical limitations to create works more easily and with greater accessibility. This diversity in the production of works of art leads to more representation and inclusion in the artistic community, allowing a wider range of voices and perspectives to be heard. 

The use of image classification systems can allow artists to create a large number of images in a short amount of time, which can be pretty useful for projects that require multiple options and proposals for clients. This acceleration of the creative process allows artists to create more and experiment with more ideas, opening up new possibilities for artistic expression. 

Since AI-generated artworks are created based on algorithms and training models, many people question whether these works can truly be considered the “creations” of the artist. Also, AI tools allow people to create accurate copies of existing works of art, raising questions about the authenticity of these copies and their artistic value. These debates are particularly relevant in the art market, where the value of a work often depends on its authenticity and the artist's signature. 

With the easy accessibility and efficiency of AI artists, art markets will soon be flooded with millions of drawings and paintings created by AI algorithms. This will make human artists struggle as their work loses visibility, especially online. It is not the first time that artificial intelligence and other disruptive technologies have transformed an industry. We have seen it before with banking, software development, and even gaming. No one can know the exact result of this transformation. 

Yet, artists need to make a fundamental decision about the future of their careers: should they “fight or join the enemy?” Furthermore, the economic tornado raised by AI artists extends beyond human artists and well into museum managers and art exhibitors. Museums and private art collectors need to assess the risks that computer-generated art poses to the value of their collections. The value of fine art lies in its rarity. A Picasso will always be a Picasso, but with AI’s ability to paint perfect replicas in a matter of minutes, the supply of Picassonian art is deemed to rise, which will cause the price to plunge.

Ultimately, there is a clear distinction between digital art and AI-generated images. While it is impossible to decode the origin of art and creativity in human history, there is still one truth that has withstood the test of time when it comes to various forms of art: it is an expression of the artist, universal human emotions, and perspectives. Since artificial intelligence is not nearly capable of experiencing or expressing emotions, the art it generates can only be considered as an amalgamation of existing artworks. However, AI-generated images can contribute to the creation of art by providing human artists inspiration. AI can open paths to new ideas and insights, providing new perspectives and ideas that may not have been possible otherwise. With the help of the information-generating tool, the artist is given a chance to innovate. But no matter what, the soul of art lies within the emotions the artist intends to convey, which is something machines can never comprehend. 

Citation:

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Davies Caroline. “‘Mind-blowing’: Ai-Da becomes first robot to paint like an artist” TheGuardian. 4, Apr, 2022. theguardian.com/technology/2022/apr/04/mind-blowing-ai-da-becomes-first-robot-to-paint-like-an-artist
Hockney David. Whiteread Rachel. “What is Digital Art?” Adobe. 2023. adobe.com/uk/creativecloud/illustration/discover/digital-art.html
McCarthy John. “What is artificial intelligence?” Stanford University. 12, Nov, 2007.  www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/whatisai.pdf 
Rea Naomi. “A Gallery Has Sold More Than $1 Million in Art Made by an Android, But Collectors Are Buying Into a Sexist Fantasy” Artnet. 6, Jun, 2019. news.artnet.com/opinion/artificial-intelligence-robot-artist-ai-da-1566580
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