Can AI painting really replace artists?

AI painting enthusiasts: “Easy to operate”, “Efficient”, “Lacks essence and vitality”

As a new type of art, AI art has become a trend on the internet. In last year’s art creation competition at the Colorado State Fair, a group of retro-style science fiction works appeared, which combined 17th-century European opera house scenes with highly imaginative outer space. Dancers wearing gorgeous costumes stand on the dome and roam in space, full of magical colors, like a lifelike space opera. This work, called “Space Opera House”, won first prize and was created using “Midjourney”. It is reported that the creator made adjustments to about 100 images generated by AI, went through about 900 iterations, and spent about 80 hours on Photoshop editing before finally completing this work.

On a certain AI painting platform, users can input descriptive language in the text box, select styles such as “Chinese style”, “oil painting” and “illustration”, and even further select more subdivided painting styles. It supports selecting the proportion, size and quantity of generated images, and can also customize the style description and add embellishments. After entering the descriptive language – “The morning mist spreads over the entire lake, a small boat shuttles among them, surrounded by forests, islands, temples, and caves around the lake,” and selecting the “Chinese style”, after waiting for 30 seconds, four paintings are generated. The four paintings have different compositions, and the main color tone of the picture is adjusted according to the keywords to reflect the seasonal changes, depicting either a splendid autumn scene or a green summer forest, with a tranquil mood.

Because the painting style is both unique and fresh, AI painting attracts a large number of users to experience it, not only in the professional painting circle but also among ordinary people. “Efficient”, “Fast”, and “Stable output” are positive evaluations given by many practitioners in related industries. AI technology will not replace truly creative artists and designers. The more advanced AI technology becomes, the more valuable creativity and imagination become. More importantly, we should reflect on what the core abilities of an artist and designer are and how to strengthen our own core abilities so that we can calmly face everything that artificial intelligence brings.