this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2025
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Fuck AI
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If all it takes to be a "real artist" is drawing proficiently, then every ai artist who has also learned to draw is a real artist and every performance or installation artist who can't draw is not an artist.
I don't like AI slop, but this argument against it just doesn't make sense.
It isn't saying that drawing is the only art form, just that having the ability to create art from scratch is what makes someone an artist. Drawing was an example, performance art, music, and other forms of art are also criteria for being an artist.
Hell, you don't even have to be proficient if you are able to create art that conveys something.
Yes, they are an artist if they are able to create art although the label only matters in reference to the things they create. It doesn't mean everything they do is art.
Using AI prompts is like using a web search to find art someone else created, it isn't creating art. Does writing down an idea for a book make someone an author? No, it does not.
What is "scratch"?
That's the whole argument against AI art.
Did you make spaghetti with pre-made noodles?
Did you make your own noodles?
Did you grind up your own wheat?
Did you make easy mac in the microwave?
Which one is a true chef?
Maybe
Probably
Definitely
Probably not
Does the AI make the "art" or does the artist use AI as a tool.
The chef creates the easy mac. A person cooks the easy mac.
Having AI create the "easy mac", then trying to claim cooking the "easy mac" makes you a chef is what's wrong
But if you get the AI to create the noodles, sauce, meat ball seasoning, etc. And you put it all together well. Then you can claim you're somewhat of a chef.
That is another good example. Using a text prompt of an AI is like microwaving a premade meal.
But tech bros using AI who can't create anything without the AI aren't artists just like someone who can only microwave premade meals isn't a chef.
Hell, adding some additional cheese or making informed substitutions and maybe a tiny bit of some seasoning is being a chef.
But if you use the AI to create the meal entirely you aren't choosing the noodles, sauce, meat balls, or anything else. You are picking items from a menu at best and hoping for random chance to spit out something you like.
Intentionally applying an AI filter to something intentionally chosen with an expected outcome could be used to create art just like algorithm based filters. But the meme is referring to people who can't actually create anything without an AI text promp.
You are overthinking the details by taking examples far to literally and applying them too broadly.
I would think the same thing as I would if you used google search and presented some artwork someone else made as your own. Typing a text prompt into an AI generator is the same thing as typing words into a search engine.
Passing off someone else's work as your own might fool someone into thinking you were a great artist, but that doesn't make you an artist.
Cover bands can also play other songs beyond what they choose to for the cover band, because they are musicians. Do you think they are limited to only that one band's songs?