Art is so much more than consumption. It is emotional, and technology behind AI cannot feel, so it cannot make art

There is a certain significance art holds across societies, influencing our culture and experience of life that is unmatched by anything else. Art is a human outlet for the expression of emotion and experiences that cannot necessarily be conveyed with cold hard statements.  A process that allows people to explain what they are feeling and engage people’s senses in a way that goes beyond basic communication.  

The Nutcracker is likely a title that many have heard of before. A story turned into a ballet, with music written by Tchaikovsky. I encourage you to halt your reading and listen to Pa De Deux (14a), a song he wrote while grieving his sisters passing, one where you can feel the passion and emotion that comes with love and loss. The pain is portrayed and will forever be conveyed as an expression of that moment in his life. Another good example of emotion and storytelling is “Ptolemaea” by Ethel Cain. This is the auditory embodiment of what fear can be living as a woman. The eeriness of the distortion Ethel puts on the spoken parts, and the echoey resonance of her soft vocals combined with lyricism that tells a sad tale. We get lead to the word stop said repeatedly, “stop, stop, stop, stop make it stop, stop…” until finally she breaks and gives a gut-wrenching scream, reiterating the fact that women often yell to be heard while men yell to assert themselves. Though, many of us have had similar experiences to Tchaikovsky or Ethel Cain, the auditory engagement that they provide goes beyond just hearing spoken words of a story, they evoke emotion and allow for the experience to be shared. 

The Kiss by Gustav Klimt is a famous painting depicting eternal love. The warm tones enveloping the lovers shows the safety and peace that can come along with love. The simplistic setting tells us that when one is in love, the place does not matter, the emotion felt is what counts and it is beautiful in and of itself. Paintings are a significant source of history and experience and arguably the longest lasting expressions of culture and emotion. Tell-tale signs that our experiences of sadness, happiness, grief, loss and love are all human experiences, shared throughout time.  

Artificial intelligence (AI) is not creating art, it is merely producing content. The examples above are not experiences that AI has, it does not grieve or lose things important, it does not have humanity that can be stripped away. It does not actively engage in culture, but it itself is a tool. For there to be art there has to be an active artist, as being an artist does not necessarily mean to have a finished product, but to engage in the act of producing art.  

This story was originally published in Volume 24, Issue 6 on February 6, 2025