AI “art” is boring, soulless theft – and when I see it as an artist, I see red | Jess Harwood

LLast week I went to a gig alone for the first time. I sat down in my single seat, possibly the youngest person in the room and one of thousands excited to see Split Enz. I loved it – I felt joy and sorrow as the lyrics spoke of real lived human experiences. To my delight, I realized that I didn’t have to wonder whether Split Enz had used AI in their work (as I so often do these days), since these bangers were made long before the dreams were created.

As a visual artist and writer myself, I see red when I see AI-generated images, music, or words presented as “art.” It’s boring, it’s theft, it’s soulless, sterile and it’s killing the planet through energy and water guzzling data centers. Someone suggested that AI “fine art” should be called “computer rendered artificial images” (CRAP).

It’s not just me. In the Australian comics arts community, festivals such as the Perth Comics Arts Festival have denounced AI, saying they “will not knowingly promote…”