Artificial Intelligence and Art

Artificial Intelligence and crossing the frontier of knowledge

Most people who hear the term Artificial Intelligence (AI) immediately remember several films, series and books – there is no shortage of works on the subject. The plot generally talks about super intelligent robots and their interactions with humans. Throughout the narrative, they end up developing feelings, sometimes good and, on other occasions, not so much.

When we talk about artificial intelligence with someone in the technology field, the thoughts are less fanciful. For these professionals, AI relates to machines capable of functioning independently of human beings.

What we don’t naturally associate with artificial intelligence is art, in its various expressions. Have you ever stopped to think about this? You may be surprised, but the ability of a machine to produce a work of art is much closer to our reality than we see in any of the fictions in the cinema, on the internet or in books.
The junction between art and artificial intelligence is a certainty nowadays. We range from AIs used as tools by artists to those that create works without practically any human interference. There are many examples and in very different areas of the art world, such as music, cinema and visual arts. Below, we will present some works and artists to illustrate this panorama.

A music album was made entirely with the help of an artificial intelligence program. Singer Taryn Southern doesn't know how to play any instrument, so she used a program called Amper to help her create the songs. She feels that the compositions are hers, as she uses the program as a tool. The program helps people who do not have music skills to express themselves through it.

Google also provided a way for people to create music with the help of machines, through the Magenta project. Within this project, there is the Lo-Fi Player, where you can access an AI-powered music studio and create and edit your own material. The idea is similar to that of Amper, meaning that even people with no prior knowledge can use the resources.

In cinema, we have Benjamin, the first AI program to write the script for a short film. He was “fed” with scripts from other films and, based on the analysis of this material, created the script for his own production, which was called Sunspring. The script seems to make no sense at times and has some disjointed dialogues, but the most interesting thing about it all is the fact that it was created by Benjamin without anyone's interference. In fact, she was the one who named the machine that way!
Closer to us, we have Brazilian artist Katia Wille. At the beginning of 2020, some of her works were exhibited at the São Paulo Museum of Sacred Art, in the ToTa Machina exhibition, which means “Machine Woman”, which combined artificial intelligence with the artist's works. Using AI, it was possible to provide different experiences for each visitor. Through machines, works were able to react not only to human presence, but also to their emotions. In other words, the works changed as they saw and identified the feelings of the visitors!
These are just a few examples. The reality is that there are many more interactions between artists and machines out there. The technological advances of humanity usually go hand in hand with developments in the field of art, and that is what we are witnessing at this moment in history. In this discussion, questions arise that usually keep us up at night. Is art made by machines still art? Will the artist be replaced? When a work of art created by an AI is sold, who gets the money? Who is the artist? What is the value of your work and your role in our society? In the future, will it still be possible to differentiate art made by humans from that made by machines?