AI Art Wins Competition And Sparks Controversy
This may be the first time that an AI generated art piece has won first place at an art competition, and that changes everything.
Jason M. Allen submitted an art piece at the Colorado State Fair Art show titled ‘Theatre D’Opera Spatial’ or Space Opera Theater which was created using MidJourney, a text-to-image AI program. It was one of three pieces he submitted, and it won first place.
The Judges who allowed the work to be submitted weren’t aware that it was AI generated, as Allen just mentioned that he created it using a computer program called MidJourney, which the judges were not familiar with.
But after it won and it became known to be AI generated, it wasn’t recanted by the judges. why? Because there is nothing in the rule book that would disqualify it:
“We haven’t seen anything in our show requirements that prohibits this activity. But it opens up debate as to, do we need to evaluate this for next year as we create the parameters? Does this need to be excluded? And I think this is a conversation that we'll have with the art community after this year's fair,” - Scott Stoller, the general manager of the state fair
Artists React Online
But the real backlash came from social media, from an onslaught of tweets and responses by outraged artists. Some were demanding that Allen return his award and post a public apology.
Allen said he has also been getting a lot of hate mail and messages on his company’s Instagram page.
Allen responded by defending himself with the following:
“It took a long time. I put over 80+ hours into this project. I’ve generated 900+ images of this particular prompt that I’ve been fine-tuning,”
“AI is a tool, like a paintbrush is a tool, and there still requires a creative force behind the tool.”
The AI Art Debate
Not everyone is outraged over this, and many also welcome the conversation.
Olga Robak, communications director for the Colorado Department of Agriculture, stated that the 150-year-old fair is delighted to be “part of the discussion” over what constitutes art.
And that’s what makes this news story particularly important at this time in history, a time when AI Art is starting to make a cultural impact. Does AI Art Constitute Art? Should artists be threatened by this new artform or embrace it?
This competition news story is only the beginning, because as AI Art continues to explode in popularity, there will be many more news items that will force this discussion. It’s a conversation in-progress.
Final Thoughts
One of the judges, Dagny McKinley said she did not realize the art was AI-generated but said it wouldn’t have changed her judgment anyway. Allen, she said, “had a concept and a vision he brought to reality, and it’s really a beautiful piece.”
This last statement by McKinley may be the mindshift that moves AI Art forward as an artform.
What McKinley is alluding to is that artificial intelligence may be the tool that helps the human imagination bring forth a vision, and that may be enough to call it art.
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