Why I created Anti-AI Art.

The AI Art ethics space is rife with debate at the moment, and springing from this is the new Anti-AI movement. At its core, is a belief in the human, and human-made design.

And so, it is into this space that I descended. But how can one person out of approximately 8.1 billion (by projection) help?

Okay, so the first point I should make is I haven’t created new Anti-AI art, but rather reutilised my photography in conjunction with slogans to create fusion art that I can place on T-Shirts, mugs, or other products.

The reason for doing this is that these products, as well as being sellable, are also considered statement pieces. People use these products to communicate, as perhaps they are not as great at communicating verbally. The Anti-AI products work as an ice breaker. Perhaps they are taking a break at work with colleagues, and someone asks about their “# Stop The Bots” mug. Or perhaps they are on the subway, and someone asks about their Anti-AI art T-Shirt. Essentially, they are communicating that they affiliate or believe in something.

But why would I want someone to be doing this? WHat has AI Art ever done to me? Well, that is complicated, and perhaps is linked to my belief that humans are good for creating things. I don’t think that AI should be doing everything for us. There are certain tasks and activities that enliven a human being, perhaps even elevate them. These tasks are good for the soul, and enable us to contemplate life and its meaning. Creating art is one such task, and the danger with AI is that we lose this skill to the machine, not to mention perhaps losing the complexity of art along the way. Humans are going to find it tough to compete with a machine that can fire out (currently) 4 images every 10 seconds, particularly in the employment sphere, whereby employers are going to weigh up cost/benefit scenarios.

However, this isn’t the only problem. In fact, it seems that we are slowly outsourcing our humanity to the machine, leaving it not only to create art, but also to write for us, think for us. If we aren’t working those sectors of our brains for anything complex, then we are actually going to regress in intelligence. This places us at risk of manipulation, in ways we probably already are unable to conceive of.

A further risk factor is in how the controllers of the machines perceive us. If we no longer provide economic value, if we are unable to contribute to society in any meaningful way, then what use are we? This is really dangerous territory. Human’s must maintain their value. But how can we do this when the Artificial Intelligence rise seems so inevitable? We need to get thinking, and…expressing.

So these mugs, and perhaps T-Shirts in future, are really there to get people to question their reality. The “I AM REAL” statement beneath the “# Stop The Bots” line relates to the supplied photograph. A photograph is a representation of physical reality. It’s easy in the current world to become so embroiled in the virtual, that we forget to enjoy the physical. The real world takes a different mindset to enjoy, one perhaps of patience, that of contemplation, that of working to enjoy sharing space with the other. We are in danger of losing this mindset if we chase the small and frequent dopamine hits of the online space. Essentially we are being locked into vicious consumption cycles, and we need to find a way to break it. 

So Anti-AI art then. I certainly don’t have all the answers yet. HOw to break the dopamine consumption behaviours, how to get outside more, how to form physical communities again? But perhaps you will have the answers. Or if you don’t have the answers right now, then perhaps you would like to joing the “# Stop The Bots” project by creating your own mugs?

That’s where I’ll leave it. The future is both terrifying and exciting. Let’s hope that we all still have room and the means for expression in 40 years. See you in the future!

Want to support human-made art?
Check out the Anti-AI collection here: KalimetricShop

Or share this post with someone who still believes in the human touch.