What is the future of art in the age of AI? | Beata Bocian | TEDxSapiens UP School Youth

TEDx TalksAbout 3 min readMay 29, 2025Watch original
THE SUMMARYAI-generated

Key Concepts

  • AI as a tool for artists
  • Artist's conscious use of AI
  • Exploring new fields and crossing borders with AI
  • AI's role in evoking emotions and telling stories
  • The difference between AI-generated images and AI-assisted art
  • Data sets and their impact on AI art
  • The role of museums and galleries in showcasing AI art

AI as a Tool for Artists

The speaker, an art historian, discusses the use of AI by artists, emphasizing that it's primarily seen as a tool rather than a replacement for human creativity. Artists are consciously choosing to use AI to explore new possibilities and push boundaries.

  • Conscious Use: Artists are not afraid of AI replacing them. They are open to new technologies and consciously explore how AI works, what's inside it, and how they can use algorithms in different ways.
  • Exploring New Fields: AI helps artists explore new fields they haven't seen before, crossing borders and showing the world something new.
  • Tool for Storytelling: Artists use AI as a tool to tell stories, evoke emotions, and connect with the audience.

Example: Unsupervised by Refik Anadol

The speaker highlights the work "Unsupervised" by Refik Anadol, presented at MoMA in New York, as a prime example of AI art.

  • Description: "Unsupervised" is a large-scale, dynamic artwork that uses AI algorithms to process and reinterpret the museum's collection. It's a huge canvas that changes shape and sound, connected with all the material in the institution's collection.
  • Significance: Its presence in a prestigious institution like MoMA signifies the acceptance and recognition of AI art in the contemporary art world.
  • Impact: The artwork evokes emotions and has an effect on people who cross the museum.

The Artist's Approach to AI

The speaker contrasts the use of AI for generating "beautiful, perfect views" for social media with the way artists approach the technology.

  • Deep Exploration: Artists delve deep into understanding how AI works, questioning the data sets they use and how they can manipulate the tool to achieve their artistic vision.
  • Imagination and Creativity: Artists use their imagination, creativity, and knowledge to find the base of the tool and check how they can use it.
  • Having Fun: Artists also have fun exploring new possibilities with AI.

Data Sets and Their Influence

The choice of data sets is crucial in AI art, as it directly influences the output. Artists carefully select data sets to give AI specific material to work with.

  • Data Set Selection: Artists ask themselves what data set they will choose to give AI some material.
  • Impact on Output: The data set influences the final artwork.

AI and Emotion

The speaker emphasizes that AI art can evoke emotions and create a connection with the audience.

  • Evoking Emotions: AI art can bring emotions to the audience.
  • Sound and Visuals: The combination of sound and visuals in AI art can have a powerful effect on viewers.

AI as a Modern Tool

The speaker equates AI to other artistic tools like instruments, films, cameras, brushes, and canvas.

  • Part of the Toolkit: AI is just one of many tools available to artists.
  • Importance of the Idea: The artist's thoughts, consciousness, and ideas are paramount, regardless of the tool used.

Conclusion

The speaker concludes by encouraging the audience to explore AI as a tool for expressing their personality and creativity. AI offers great possibilities to show your personality and your creativity. The key takeaway is that AI is a tool that artists can use to explore new possibilities, cross borders, and tell stories in innovative ways, but the artist's vision and creativity remain central to the process.

AI summaries can miss context or contain errors. Check important details against the original video.

Go a little deeper.

Have a question about this video? Load its transcript to open the video chat.