In a constantly changing and growing world of artificial intelligence, advancements are being made at a pace that’s often hard to keep up with. With AI being implemented in new ways across a variety of different fields, it can be difficult to discern which uses are effective, safe or even ethical. One thing is clear, however: generative AI is none of these things.
United States Congress defines generative AI (gen AI) as artificial intelligence models that “use machine learning… to generate new content.” This content can include many things, such as text, visuals or even video. This technology has been used for a variety of purposes, such as academic essays, visually impressive photographs or fake movie clips that look convincing enough to be genuine. Though often impressive and sometimes even mistakeable for the real thing, this artificially generated content is an active harm to the creative process and free thought itself.
There is a growing demographic of people who use gen AI to create pictures that they share online and they are completely transparent about the source of the work. Although the honesty is appreciated, the practice is worthless. The title “AI art” is a contradiction of terms. If a visual is created by a computer, something artificial, it has no artistic merit. It was not created by a human— it has no emotion or intentionality. Even the most crude and uninteresting drawing made by a person has infinitely more value than the most pleasant-looking design made by AI. Without the inherent feeling behind human art, a picture means and says nothing.
Not only is artificially produced content worthless, it is actively harmful to global creativity. AI does not come up with ideas out of nowhere— it draws on databases from a variety of online sources. That means everything it produces, even if it is seemingly original, is a rehash of work done by artists of the past. Not only does that raise ethical questions regarding plagiarism, but it stunts any form of ingenuity. Nothing created by AI is new and when people share its creations online, they create a stagnant environment where no new ideas are formed. Of course, artists have been reworking older art for ages, but human artists are always able to bring a unique spin or personal touch to their projects. AI can not. Because artificial images are becoming so prominent, it becomes harder and harder for actual original ideas to be seen amid the sea of computer-generated echoes.
Aside from artistic concerns, gen AI poses a clear danger to public safety. AI-generated images and videos can be widely spread across online resources and convince people of falsehoods. One early example of this spread of misinformation is a generated video of Ukraine President Vlodymyr Zelensky surrendering to Russia, the purpose of which seemed to be persuading the Ukrainian people to submit to the Russian military. Although these videos are imperfect and can be debunked by a keen eye or fact-check, not everyone knows how to determine what is real and what isn’t. Even if most people have no malicious intent in their use of gen AI, the potential for harm is too great to justify its use or even existence.
Although there are many practical uses for artificial intelligence in the modern world, generation of content is not one of them. Generative AI produces nothing of merit, actively hinders the spread of creativity and acts as an active danger to the world at large. Nothing is capable of replacing the human mind and nothing should even try to do so
