MY STATEMENT ON GENERATIVE AIΒ
β LIREΒ LA VERSION FRANΓAISEΒ
β LIREΒ LA VERSION FRANΓAISEΒ
Far from being opposed to progress, I am, however, utterly opposed to imposture.
Like me, a considerable number of artists are capable of developing their ideas through genuine abilities: they know how to write, draw, paint, compose, play an instrument and create with their own hands, from their own ideas. Unfortunately, today, we are being literally overwhelmed by individuals who claim the title of artist merely because, with the greatest laziness and the utmost contempt for what art and creation truly are, they have asked artificial intelligence to generate images, texts or pieces of music for them by feeding it, with the most disheartening ease, a few keywords.
Even more tellingly, these self-proclaimed βdigital creatorsβ release their βworksβ without even making the effort to correct their flaws. Why? Because they are βcreatorsβ in name only, and are quite simply technically, intellectually and artistically incapable of altering these images, texts or pieces of music themselves.
A real-life example illustrates this disturbing trend particularly well. Someone recently told me, with a certain degree of pride, that he has begun creating orchestral music despite never having practised the discipline before. Within the space of two months, he has released no fewer than fourteen albums, each accompanied by its own artwork. He explained to me that all of this content had been created using artificial intelligence, openly acknowledging that he possessed no particular musical ability. Nevertheless, these albums were put up for sale under his name, protected by copyright and accompanied by the statement: βcomposed, produced and performed by [his name].β
The problem, therefore, no longer lies solely in the use of a tool, but in publicly claiming expertise that one openly admits not to possess. Claiming to have composed, produced and performed a work generated entirely by artificial intelligence is not, in my view, merely an imprecise choice of words: it is a dishonest representation of the creative process and a particularly insulting way of denying the work of those who have genuinely learned how to compose, produce and perform music.
With the emergence of this wave of impostors, art and artists are seeing their value diminished, while their work is sometimes openly treated with contempt. How many times have I been asked, while sharing one of my illustrations or texts, whether it had been generated using AI? Is it no longer conceivable that human beings might be capable of creating, writing, drawing, painting and making music with their own hands and through their own minds? How long will it be before genuine artists, proud to share their work, are branded as liars and accused of concealing their use of AI to create in their place?
To be an artist is to make the effort to spend hours, days, sometimes even months or years working on a piece. It is to endure the pain of sometimes having to erase everything and begin again. To be an artist is to derive pleasure from this creative struggle. To be an artist is to take pride in the pain, frustration and doubt that were necessary to create.
Giving an AI a few keywords so that it can create in your place, without any effort on your part, will never make you an artist. It makes you an impostor and a thief, deserving of neither visibility nor respect, but only of the same contempt that you yourselves show towards genuine creators through your cheap βworksβ, entirely devoid of talent, craftsmanship or interest.
Today, I am deeply disheartened by the exponential spread of images, music, novels and texts generated by artificial intelligence. As an artist who creates essentially through the union of his own hands and his own mind, I am becoming increasingly bitter in the face of this proliferation of imposture, and particularly irritated by the ever-growing number of people who ask me whether my various creations were produced using artificial intelligence.
π§ππ ππ‘π¦πͺππ₯ ππ¦ π‘π’!!!For as long as I can remember, I have drawn, written and created. I have always sought to transcend the monotony of everyday life through artistic creation, whether visual, musical or literary. Today, all of my work across these different fields is the result of more than thirty years of continuous learning, labour, research, evolution, improvement, experimentation, experience and practice. To see all of that effort, energy and passion reduced to the mere suspicion that my work might be the product of cold and soulless software is becoming particularly unbearable to me.
It has led me to feel compelled to document the progress of my work in order to preserve evidence of its many stages of creation, in case anyone should one day cast doubt on the honesty of my creative process. It is not healthy to have to face this kind of constraint or this kind of social pressure.
It also frequently leads me to wonder whether I still wish to undertake the creation of a complex work requiring a considerable investment of time and energy, knowing that I may encounter the scepticism of those who have, regrettably, chosen to believe that human beings are no longer capable of creating by themselves and must inevitably resort to artificial intelligence in order to express themselves intellectually and artistically.
For posterity, and to affirm the sincerity of my work, I felt it necessary to share these words and to conclude with one simple idea that ultimately summarises everything:
Art is the union of craftsmanship and creative thought. In art, the body, experience and mind cannot be separated.DOLSON LEWIS
April 17, 2024