Except you can very much use it as a tool to create a work. With img2img you can feed it a drawing (or anything really) and have it remake the image you fed it in a whole new style. With inpainting you can take an existing image and have AI fill in a masked area with something else entirely. Controlnet lets you control how things in the generated image are composed or even do wild things like create unique QR codes. And absolutely nothing is stopping one from taking the AI generated image, pulling it into an editing software and editing it further into a greater piece too
AI is like photography. If all you do is rely on the machine you get output exactly as good as the thought and effort you put in, but if you approach it as a tool to use in your artwork it opens up a ton of neat possibilities that are yet to be seen and can be a brilliant tool to keep in the toolbox
AI is not a tool, you do not use it to do anything, you ask it to do the thing for you. You said it yourself “have it remake the image you fed it in a whole new style” it does the work and you do fuck all.
It takes a depressing lack of imagination to not see how AI can be used as a tool for artistry. You do realize it’s possible to edit, collage, cut up and remix AI generated images just like images from any other source, right?
Just like how photographers can create artwork through careful composition of the subject, framing the shot, adjusting the lens or settings on the camera to affect how the light ultimately translates to the sensor/film then how they develop the film/image file and how they ultimately present the final piece are all critical components in photographic artwork conoared to how many might simply point our phone at something and click the button then either trash it or keep whatever image the phone spits out.
An AI artist can start with a carefully selected source, be that a prompt or a drawing or even a completed artwork (akin to the composition of the subject) bring it into the AI software where the selection of weights model (akin to the choice of camera) any transformers they apply to the weights model, the specific prompt, perimeters set in the software (akin to the configuration of the camera and selection of lens) any additional steps that it passes through the AI software such as additional transformers or models, automated adjustments or even manual adjustments and edits (akin to the intial pass in Lightroom or the choice of chemicals and technique in developing film) then any additional work they do in traditional editing software or in print (this step is basically the same as in photography) and finally how the work is presented (this step is also the same)
So in short, your arguments against using AI to create art would also make it impossible to use photography to create art. Photography is well established to be an art form, and just like how we’re currently seeing pushback from artists of how AI cheapens art and requires no effort to create images, when cameras were first brought to market the exact same arguments were made. And when cameras first became commercially available, people didn’t yet know what was possible with photographic art, but while a lot of photographers were pointing cameras at things to see what stuck, a few pioneering artists were also exploring what they could do with this new medium. This is the stage we’re at. Lots of people are making forgettable images with the new medium but some people are using it to create brand new art in new styles and ways from what the world has seen before.
Except you can very much use it as a tool to create a work. With img2img you can feed it a drawing (or anything really) and have it remake the image you fed it in a whole new style. With inpainting you can take an existing image and have AI fill in a masked area with something else entirely. Controlnet lets you control how things in the generated image are composed or even do wild things like create unique QR codes. And absolutely nothing is stopping one from taking the AI generated image, pulling it into an editing software and editing it further into a greater piece too
With tools like these its very easy to see how an artist might make something like say, a fake time travel log or use it as a tool to reduce how much labor is needed to complete a larger work
AI is like photography. If all you do is rely on the machine you get output exactly as good as the thought and effort you put in, but if you approach it as a tool to use in your artwork it opens up a ton of neat possibilities that are yet to be seen and can be a brilliant tool to keep in the toolbox
AI is not a tool, you do not use it to do anything, you ask it to do the thing for you. You said it yourself “have it remake the image you fed it in a whole new style” it does the work and you do fuck all.
It takes a depressing lack of imagination to not see how AI can be used as a tool for artistry. You do realize it’s possible to edit, collage, cut up and remix AI generated images just like images from any other source, right?
Just like how photographers can create artwork through careful composition of the subject, framing the shot, adjusting the lens or settings on the camera to affect how the light ultimately translates to the sensor/film then how they develop the film/image file and how they ultimately present the final piece are all critical components in photographic artwork conoared to how many might simply point our phone at something and click the button then either trash it or keep whatever image the phone spits out.
An AI artist can start with a carefully selected source, be that a prompt or a drawing or even a completed artwork (akin to the composition of the subject) bring it into the AI software where the selection of weights model (akin to the choice of camera) any transformers they apply to the weights model, the specific prompt, perimeters set in the software (akin to the configuration of the camera and selection of lens) any additional steps that it passes through the AI software such as additional transformers or models, automated adjustments or even manual adjustments and edits (akin to the intial pass in Lightroom or the choice of chemicals and technique in developing film) then any additional work they do in traditional editing software or in print (this step is basically the same as in photography) and finally how the work is presented (this step is also the same)
So in short, your arguments against using AI to create art would also make it impossible to use photography to create art. Photography is well established to be an art form, and just like how we’re currently seeing pushback from artists of how AI cheapens art and requires no effort to create images, when cameras were first brought to market the exact same arguments were made. And when cameras first became commercially available, people didn’t yet know what was possible with photographic art, but while a lot of photographers were pointing cameras at things to see what stuck, a few pioneering artists were also exploring what they could do with this new medium. This is the stage we’re at. Lots of people are making forgettable images with the new medium but some people are using it to create brand new art in new styles and ways from what the world has seen before.