Opinion piece by Joshua Armstrong
Artificial Intelligence. It’s truly everywhere. Your favourite apps and software, websites, even your doctor is on board the AI train. And it’s a train that has well and truly left the station. So, as with most new tech, we’re at a point where it’s either jump on, or get left behind.
AI could be an incredible tool, as we’ve seen in the branches of medical science, ecology, and education.
And there’s no doubt that it has its incredible downsides. The discourse around the massive cost it has on our people and our planet, data centers, water usage, is not to be ignored. But that just comes along with the unmoderated, capitalistic nature with which we operate these systems. That’s a whole different conversation to be had.
What I want to speak to, is the effect AI art has on our creatives, especially locally here in the Coromandel.
Last week, I logged into social media, and the posters for the first six local events around the peninsula were all designed with AI.
Some of you, like me, will be able to spot an AI poster/design from a mile away.
These weren’t even particularly different from one another, other than event details.
Some for music events, some for markets, two even for art shows. All with the same drab design as the last.
The art of the poster is meant to portray the heart and feel of the event, so seeing an AI poster for a local arts event is devastating to me, and seems incredibly antitethical.
As a lot of you know, AI is automating more and more of the creative process. And while it can be a useful tool, there’s a difference between using AI to help bring an idea to life, and letting it do all the heavy lifting. The weird ideas, the personal touches, the mistakes, and the sense that there was actually a person behind the work making decisions and trying to communicate something.
Maybe that’s why seeing AI generated artwork used to advertise local artists and art shows feels so weird. Art isn’t just the finished image, it’s the process, the perspective, and the person who made it. That’s the whole point.
AI isn’t going away, and wo knows how it will continue to change and shape our lives in the future.
I just hope that as we race to embrace this new tech, we don’t forget to value the thing that made us create in the first place. Because creativity isn’t just something we produce, it’s a pretty important part of who we are.
Joshua has worked in Graphic Design for the past 15+ years, in the events and music sector, internationally, in Aotearoa, and locally on the Coromandel.
