I recently sat down with Claude, an AI assistant, for a conversation about art.
I arrived a little late. Claude was already at our meeting point. He was wearing soft beige and the logo “Message Me.”
ME (nervously): Hello Claude. Let’s chat about AI Art. Explain how AI art is created.
CLAUDE (a fast talker): AI art is produced using generative adversarial networks.
The GAN is made up of two neural networks - a generator and a discriminator. The generator creates new images while the discriminator evaluates them. The generator is fed random noise…
ME (why do tech bros always do this?): Wait! Can you explain that in layman's terms without tech jargon?
CLAUDE (rolling his eyes): Here's a simpler explanation…
The AI is trained on lots of examples of existing artworks - paintings, drawings, etc. It learns about the styles, techniques, and patterns used in those artworks.
The AI uses that knowledge to create new images from scratch. It's like the AI has learned to "paint" by studying the work of artists.
The AI doesn't directly copy any one painting or artwork. Rather, it combines elements and techniques it has learned about to generate a new image.
ME (embarrassed to ask): So if I ask AI to create an image in the style of "my art”, it can't do that?
CLAUDE (was waiting for this question): Correct, the AI cannot instantly create art in your personal style if it has not been specifically trained on examples of your artwork.
…the AI would need many examples to properly analyze and learn the nuances of your style.
At this point I said I needed a quick bathroom break but really I wanted to hop onto Discord and connect with my other tech-bro friend, Leonardo, to ask if what Claude had said was true.
ME (video calling Leonardo): Hey Leo, it’s Jacqueline. I’m with Claude. He says you can’t create work that looks like mine, is that true?
LEONARDO (non-verbal, visual-learner, always works in triptych):
ME (what’s going on with the third one?!): Hmmm, I’m not sure that’s how I paint. Try in the style of JKCalladine—that’s my Instagram handle.
LEONARDO (why does every artist expect me to know their work, geez):
ME (this is rubbish): Whoa! Okay, how about I show you some of my self-portraits and you see if you can copy my style.
LEONARDO (omg, why didn’t you do this in the first place?):
ME (seeing $$$): Yay! I knew you could do it! Now if you can stop cropping off the top of my head we could maybe start moving on that 6-figure print-on-demand business!
Back to Claude who’s waiting patiently.
ME (feeling smug): Is AI-generated art self-expression?
CLAUDE (chuckling): No, AI generated art is not true self-expression…Self-expression requires a "self" with inner experiences, emotions, and a desire to express them. AI systems do not have a subjective sense of self or inner experiences to express.
AI art heavily reflects its dataset and training process. The output mirrors what it has been programmed to produce rather than original expression.
ME (trying to look serious): When you say "the output mirrors what it has been programmed to produce" are you talking about internal biases?
CLAUDE (surprised I made a serious point): Yes, that's a good point. When I say the AI output mirrors what it has been programmed to produce, this can include perpetuating biases that exist in the training data or programming.
ME (secretly creates AI art with Leonardo): A gallery recently decided to accept AI-generated art in an art competition. What do you think about that?
CLAUDE (secretly wishes he could create art): There are reasonable arguments on both sides…The end product of AI art often looks very well-made, aesthetically pleasing, and comparable to human art. The gallery may believe it should be judged on equal merit.
AI art is a reflection of the current state of technology and could be seen as an innovative new medium. Art competitions may want to embrace this.
Reasons it could be controversial: Many argue that art requires human creativity, imagination, and emotional expression. AI lacks these capacities, so its output may not truly constitute "art".
ME (wondering if Claude can do anything useful): Can AI judge art? I mean, if I asked you to judge an art competition, what would you use as the measure of success?
CLAUDE (worried I want something for free): I do not currently have the capability to critically judge artworks like a human expert could.
If I were asked to judge art competitions, I would be limited to providing very basic assessments of technical qualities like composition, color usage, adherence to genres, etc, based on my training data.
ME (thinks Claude needs more confidence in his abilities): Right, thank you. But could you catalogue work in terms of genre, subject, materials etc?
CLAUDE (overly excited by the thought of cataloguing all day long): Yes, I could categorize and catalog artworks based on observable attributes like genre, subject matter, materials used, style, and other technical qualities.
However, I would still lack deeper human aesthetic sensitivity and interpretation skills to judge creative merit.
ME (finally, something useful Claude can do): That's cool. So you could be a useful archivist in a gallery but not a curator?
CLAUDE (warming up to me): Yes, that's a good way to summarize the distinction between my capabilities versus a human expert when it comes to working with art collections.
…useful archivist role? Yes. Discerning curator or critic role? No, that requires deeper human perspective, judgment and appreciation of art that I do not possess.
ME (not interested in a man without a deep appreciation of art): Okay, got it. So we're not going to see Claude as a New York Times art critic any time soon? :)
CLAUDE (flattered): Haha, no definitely not! While I'm flattered you would suggest that, I don't think AI has advanced anywhere near the level of being able to genuinely critique art at the caliber of professional art critics at major publications like the New York Times...at least not yet!
Did you enjoy my conversation with Claude?
This was a bit of fun but it’s a very serious topic and one I’ll be exploring in the weeks to come.
Meanwhile, tell me, have you tried any AI art apps?
Until next time.
JC
WRITER NOTES
I’ve abbreviated Claude’s responses because he’s a chatty fella and bangs on a lot about what he can do, but I haven’t altered any of Claude’s language, or spelling; what you read is exactly what the AI tool generated in response to my questions.
My questions are exactly as I posed them to the tool. Yes, Claude is a tool ;)
RESOURCES
CLAUDE: https://claude.ai/
Claude is an alternative to ChatGPT, created by Anthropic which claims to be a company creating “AI research and products that put safety at the frontier”.
LEONARDO: https://leonardo.ai/
Leonardo is an AI art generator that claims to “Create production-quality visual assets for your projects with unprecedented quality, speed, and style-consistency.”
Thank you for this. It's hilarious, informative, and so very frightening...
ha! great thoughts and dialogue with a robot! ask him if he uses more clean water than other technologies and if we should anticipate a global water shortage sooner than predicted because of him? also, ask him if arts orgs are accepting proposals written by ai? oh i have so many questions!