A STATEMENT ON AI

I recently posted on Instagram my thoughts about AI as it pertains to visual art. The message was intended for my clients and followers, but—as with many things on social media—it ended up growing in reach, with people chiming in on both sides. Just to clear the air:

For me, art has always been a combination of skill, experience, inspiration, obsession, and most importantly, passion. My love of art started as a kid by emulating Marvel comic books, eventually moving to an education and career. My earliest professional work was done with Rapidograph pens on Bristol board. I use a variety of tools these days, mainly a combination of Adobe Illustrator, traditional sketch work, and *gasp!* clipart for accents and flourishes. That's where it ends; If I can't figure it out beyond that, it doesn't get done.

Most of us use Artificial Intelligence in our everyday lives whether we choose to accept it or not. From social media to maps to search engines, it's virtually impossible to disconnect AI from the world we live in. To completely reject it, one would need to toss their phone and their PC into the nearest toilet. So yes, we all use AI for one purpose or another. But when we use it to automatically generate art, music, and even express our thoughts and emotions, I strongly believe that a line has been crossed.

Why is creating AI art different than any other AI application? Leaving the skill, talent and potential theft arguments aside, here's why:

Along with love, creation is the most powerful and rewarding of human experiences. Creating art can be a challenging process that involves exploring solutions, taking risks and surrendering a bit of yourself, for better and for worse. To task a CPU algorithm with assimilating this experience is to surrender much of what makes us human in the first place. AI art is a quick and easy solution that accomplishes nothing except a shallow result.

Of course, there are levels to this. Using AI to design a poster for a school bake sale is one thing – using AI to stake your claim as an artist—or even replace artists entirely—is another. From my perspective, it's no different than throwing a frozen pizza in the oven and calling yourself a chef, or singing karaoke and calling yourself a rock star.

Objectivity and self-reflection do make me consider that perhaps my resistance to AI is rooted in generational curmudgeonry, although I certainly hope this isn't the case. I don't talk to Siri, Alexa, Jarvis or any digitized assistants. I've never touched ChatGPT or anything similar. It's bad enough that I can barely get to the corner bookstore without the aid of Google Maps, although the fact that I still frequent bookstores is telling in and of itself.

Is it hypocritical to use AI while expressing negative opinions about AI creation? For me the answer is no. There is no alternative to using AI-driven social media platforms to reach my core audience; modern search engines are deploying AI whether I like it or not. But making the switch to AI art creation would be a deliberate step away from everything I've built as an artist.

Would I use AI to find tour dates for my favorite band? Yes. Would I use it to write new songs for them? Never. Would I use AI to research famous poets? Sure. Would I use it to write a poem for my wife? Hopefully you can see where this is going.

To make it abundantly clear: I do not use AI for art creation and I never will.

Peace.

Bill Wood

Los Angeles, CA