AI is a growing force that is seeping into many forms of media, with a significant impact on the art community. It begs the question, is AI art “real” art? While AI is manmade, does that mean that its creations are technically human creations?

Similar to the debate of which came first, the chicken or the egg, it’s hard to determine the logistics of originality. While AI could not have been created without humans, it may surpass us in many areas in real life. Art is a huge part of humanity and expression, and AI is slowly turning it into a source of unrealistic standards. Alongside smooth skin lacking pores and perfect hair, soulless eyes are a defining feature of AI, one that is drastically different from real life. In any AI creation, there is a level of unattainable perfection (excluding hands of course). That sort of unrealistic flawlessness creates ideas and expectations for ourselves and other people.

When it is all around, one may start to crave that unachievable look, which can be very destructive to a person’s perception of people and reality. After reading a really good book or watching a fun show, people often run to a search engine to look for fanart. But lately, most of the results are AI. People looking for authentic, genuine results might be very disappointed.

Also, AI is starting to find its place in film. The concerning part about this is that it is misplacing jobs that are necessary to the people. Visual effects artists are already struggling with mistreatment, and this is only another threat to their jobs. Humans are perfectly capable of the things AI is achieving in film, and there are people that need those jobs.

Another negative impact of AI is its convenience which is diminishing people’s capability to use creativity, critical thinking, problem solving and memory. It can become highly depended on by anyone, but extremely so by students. Students are highly susceptible to “easy out” opportunities, and they may not realize how damaging it is in the loss of genuine learning. It is essential for students to build their muscle memory of struggling, working through it and putting in effort in order to succeed at difficult tasks.

AI can be very useful in the act of providing information and quickly browsing and summarizing the web but having involvement in art and creation is not necessary or healthy for human consumption. It is important for humans to be more aware of our loss of ingenuity and not allow AI to completely infiltrate the creative world.