Overheard a guy at a coffee shop saying "AI art lacks the happy accidents" and I can't stop thinking about it

So I was grabbing a latte last Saturday near downtown and this older guy was talking to his friend about digital art. He said something like "the whole point of making art is the happy accidents, and AI just skips that part." At first I thought he was just gatekeeping, but the more I think about it, the more I agree. Like when I'm painting in Procreate, half my best stuff comes from a brush slip or a wrong color that I decide to keep. Do you feel like the random screw ups are part of what makes digital art feel human? Or is that just nostalgia talking?

2 comments

2 Comments

nancyd8511d agoTop Commenter

Does that mean AI art is somehow "too clean" for you then... like it doesn't have those little human moments where a smudge turns into something beautiful? I've been messing around with some AI image generators myself, and they always seem to give me this perfect polished version of what I asked for, but it never has that weird charm you get from a watercolor bleed or a pencil skip on paper. What kind of happy accidents have you actually had in your own work that you wouldn't trade for anything?

the_morgan11d ago

Totally get that. AI misses the messy soul of a real mistake that works.