A talk with my neighbor's kid made me rethink AI art

I was helping my neighbor fix his fence in Seattle last month when his 8-year-old daughter, Chloe, came out to watch. She saw me looking at some AI-generated pictures on my phone and asked what they were. I told her a computer made them, and she just said, 'But it didn't feel anything.' That simple line stuck with me for weeks. I used to think the tech was just a cool new tool, and the debate about it being 'real' art was silly. Now I get why people care so much about the human part. The machine can copy a style, but it can't have the reason a person picks that style. Has anyone else had a small moment that shifted how you see this stuff?

3 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

3 Comments

milalopez6mo ago

Yeah, that hits hard. I was totally on the "it's just a tool" side for a long time. Then I saw a bunch of AI images made to look like a specific artist, and it felt gross, like stealing their voice. The kid is right. The computer makes choices based on data, not because it has something to say. It can't put a piece of its own life into the work. That missing feeling is the whole point.

3

janawells6mo ago

Wait, so my delivery route is just... data?

2

nancyd855mo ago

Guess my old art degree is safe for now, then.

2