(by Zhuolun (Julia) Xie)
Whenever we talk about computers, we like to associate them with the buzzwords of rationality and objectivity, which are the direct opposite of what we would use to describe art – characterized by emotion and subjectivity. However, as computers become more and more developed today, this new technology of “Creative Artificial Intelligence” emerges. From Harold Cohen’s “AARON” to Simon Colton’s “The Painting Fool”, these robotic painting machines are able to generate paintings based on analysis of masterpieces’ stylistic features – such as colors, compositions, use of lines, etc. Some of these machine-made paintings become expensive auction items; some others are so indistinguishable from human-made art that they are even able to trick connoisseur’s eyes. The increasing prevalence of creative AI and their paintings brings to our attention an essential question, which not only affects how we view machine- made paintings but also influences how we understand the nature of art: are machine- made paintings art? Personally, my answer to this philosophical question is that the machine-made paintings are not art yet; at this stage, they do not possess certain qualities that are essential to true art, which I will expand on in this paper.
Philosophy & Emerging Technologies: Emerging Ideas 