The Hand vs. the Algorithm

Opinion by Mei-Mei Wang, Grade 9

Amidst the rise of artificial intelligence and its significant impact on us, ranging from helping learners and educators with tasks, asking questions, or even seeking guidance from it on how to bake a cake. There are also downsides to artificial intelligence. 

As many people may know, AI ‘art’ is currently labeled as the “start of a new movement,” but in my opinion, it is the fall of human creativity. Today, I would like to explain why AI ‘art’ is not art and how, instead of challenging ourselves, AI ‘art’ completely demonstrates how society only cares about the outcome and never the process. 

I, as an artist, am completely devastated to see how homepages filled with AI ‘art’ instead of seeing anything that feels remotely close to human-generated anymore. Personally, I don’t get why people don’t draw it themselves. I think it’s okay that we don’t know how to color, outline, or make anything good. Even on KASPER's homepage, I saw a screenplay named ‘MODEL 7B’ and immediately questioned why we are using AI to puke out a thumbnail for us on a screenplay about AI overtaking us?

Humans make mistakes. This is how we develop our knowledge through learning, so instead, why are we losing our own humanity just because we want a simple thumbnail to look ‘good’?

In my opinion, art is supposed to be something that you enjoy and have fun with, so why, as humans, do we gain the feeling of pressure that we NEED to produce something that looks good? Since AI ‘art’ users are already using their minds to generate ideas, why not execute them with their own hands? Making our own art gives us a sense of connection and originality, so why do we want to erase our humanity for the sake of society and how others view art? I think this proves how AI ‘art’ users are scared of being judged. They are scared that their abilities are not the best. 

But let’s be honest. We all want to appear ‘good’ in front of everyone. However, creativity is messy. Our human minds work differently, and it is what makes us human and truly special. Instead of prioritizing so-called efficiency over actual love and joy in creating. AI ‘art’ users should realize that it doesn’t matter if something doesn’t look ‘good’ in reality, there isn’t anything that defines art as ‘good.’

Art is subjective, it’s different to everyone’s perspective. Meaning, you shouldn’t let people judge real handmade art based on its looks. Art needs meaning; art is something that you should feel connected to and enjoy.