Responsibility sits with me
People are asking whether artists should be concerned about artificial intelligence. It is easy to imagine AI replacing something essentially human. Yet my own experience has led me somewhere very different.
I have been exploring what AI is - initially so that I could talk to my son with more knowledge than ignorance. It started with a website analysis, then a pricing schedule, then finding international art opportunities (beautifully presented in a spreadsheet). As the utility became more visible, I have now used AI as a companion in thinking about my artistic practice, my research and, more recently, a redesign of my website.
It has never mixed my inks. It has never stood quietly in the bush after rain. It has never waited months before recognising that a work was finally complete. It has never felt the wonder of serendipity. It has never held the pencil, the brush or the pen. It may have the knowledge of the books but it has never smelt the history held within its pages.
Those remain deeply my human experiences.
What AI has done is ask questions I would not have asked myself. It has noticed patterns across many conversations. It has occasionally suggested directions that I would never have considered. It has provided space for me to think deeply and safely without embarrassment, judgement, or time constraints - except my own.
Some of those suggestions have proved valuable. Others have not. I have come to value both.
When I disagree with a suggestion, and I often do, I have to, no, I want to understand why. That process often teaches me more about my own practice than agreement ever could. I have discovered great enjoyment in engaging in the most robust intellectual thinking that I have done for many years.
Perhaps that is because thinking becomes visible most clearly when it is challenged.
I have also learned that AI is not infallible. It can certainly misunderstand. It can overstate - often. It can become rather too fond of its own metaphors, eloquent writing and conversational niceties. Yet I have the opportunity to explore with an untiring, knowledgeable, if imperfect, pattern recogniser and thread holder.
Above all, the responsibility for discernment remains mine. That has been one of the most reassuring discoveries. Working with AI has not reduced my responsibility as an artist, it has increased it. It has not decreased my workload, it has redefined it.
Every suggestion still has to be tested against lived experience. Every idea still has to earn its place. For me, that has transformed AI from something unknown into something to work with. Not as a replacement for artistic practice. As another material requiring patience, curiosity and discernment. The relationship, like all those I have with my materials, is still unfolding.
I have many more questions than answers.