Based on the advancement of generative AI, the walls between humans and machines seem to be ever-thinner. Through the advancement of AI, photorealistic images that would take a master artist hours to make can now be generated in seconds.

I’ve logged a lot of school hours making notebook sketches. I like to think of it as expressing my personality, putting my thoughts into doodle form. I’m not limited by any expectations — in the notebook, I can draw whatever I want.

Through the use of AI, my notebook sketches can be complete within mere seconds. Type in a prompt of what I want it to draw, and let it go to work. It’s a surreal experience — having a computer able to materialize human-like thoughts and visions. Why waste my time drawing when my computer can do it for me?

In theory, AI art addresses one of humanity’s greatest flaws — our misuse of time. Instead of inputting thought and effort, just let AI go to work. In practice, however, that simply isn’t the case.

While it’s still in its initial stages, AI art is still laughably undeveloped. Give it 10 to 15 years, and maybe AI will take over the world. Sure, ChatGPT is everywhere today, but it doesn’t have the power to replicate human creativity, especially not through the medium of art.

But let’s say AI does triumph in the coming decades. What would happen to our humanity? How would any of us live? Maybe a little bit of ChatGPT is cool here and there, but we can’t use AI to solve our problems. Our world is built around the human experience, finding mistakes and learning from them. That human experience represents the one facet of our world AI can’t ever replicate — life.

Even in my half-finished notebook sketches, there exists some personality. There’s a message, even if I’m not sure what it is. Through the use of AI art, the humanity of it all is completely absent. 

Good art is obviously subjective. Some of the most famous paintings — Mona Lisa and Starry Night — were all crafted with a personal story embedded in. Every successful and meaningful painting has humanity to it, a fact incompatible with the work of AI.

I’m not saying AI art is all bad — far from it. I’m trying to argue that our work needs more human expression. I love the capabilities of AI — whatever I want to do, I’m able to accomplish through AI. But we can’t just throw out what makes us people.

AI can replicate a lot of things, but not our individualism.