AI continues to be an integral part of our society. Whether it’s helpful with summarizing search results on Google or hurtful, like the use of AI to write essays in school settings, which can damage a student’s academic integrity. But what does AI’s growth mean for artists?
Artists spend years developing their craft. They work hard to produce the art they want to present to the world, and it is possible that their work could be used to train AI to produce similar products.
For graphic designers, this could mean AI may become more popular than hiring actual artists.
“[A graphic designer ends up becoming a] jack of all trades, master of none. I think in a way, it kind of weakens the field a little bit,” graphic design teacher Ms. Regina Iannello said.
Graphic design is a huge artistic field for artists to find work in, but AI has already been used for advertisements in place of human work. This could potentially put a lot of artists out of work because companies would rather generate an image quickly and have it be sub-par then hire and pay a professional graphic designer.
However, there are also possible positive ways to use AI in graphic design.
“I do think that it can really help, especially in my classroom, a student that might struggle with learning the actual programs or techniques,” Iannello said. “If they’re using a site that simplifies that process, but coming up with the concept on their own it gives them a chance to be successful, too.”
Meta, the company who owns Facebook and Instagram, has permission to use public comments and posts to train their AI, according to their Privacy Center. Social media is integral for the arts community, as millions of artists use it to promote their art. But if they’re posting their art on Instagram, which is taking that data and using it to train their AI, then the AI could get better at recreating works of art. This could have a huge impact on artist communities.
“[Artists] don’t want their art used, but by putting your art on Instagram, you are giving Meta permission to [train their AI with public posts], so an artist could take themselves off of Instagram,” 2D art teacher Ms. Jennifer Rodgers said.
On the College Board guidelines page for AI usage, it clearly states: “The use of artificial intelligence tools by AP Art and Design students is categorically prohibited at any stage of the creative process.” This could be beneficial for the students submitting to College Board in the spring who worked hard on their portfolio and won’t be scored against AI generated portfolio work.
“It would just suck so hard if you spent months working and curating a portfolio and you got a worse score than someone who just used AI generated art, right? So I think that that’s very valuable,” junior Pearl Tweedy said.
The art world is ever-changing, and in the future, AI may become more influential within it. For now, the artist community continues to flourish despite current AI progress.
