What Does it Mean to be an Artist in the Age of AI?

Being an artist is not about skill or talent, and it especially isn’t about how the final product looks. Being an artist is about the meaning and intention of the process.

Fundamentally, AI generated “art” or “literature” does not count. There is no meaning or intention behind it; it is simply a product of real art that came first. One can draw inspiration from what an AI generates, but it is unethical to generate new content in the modern day.

Furthermore, AI generated content was more capable of being prescribed meaning when it was new, less invasive, and had distinctive, obvious artifacts. That being said, the products were still not art. The prompters were still not artists for generating them.

To be an artist in the age of AI is to recognize that AI is not an art-generator, nor is it an assistive tool in the art-making process. Art itself has never been a gatekept process; companies fabricated that lie to sell a fake solution. And yes, they will sell it. It will not be free when the economic bubble pops, and the aftermath of that pop will be more devastating than the Americas have seen in a long time.