Between masterpieces and machines: the intersection of art and AI

4 minute read
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Lewis Carroll's Wet-Collodion Outfit of Photographic Chemicals. Original photo taken in the History of Science Museum, Oxford (left) and Al-generated picture using Paintify (right)

The legacy of disruption

The Oxford Executive Diploma in Artificial Intelligence for Business at Oxford's Saïd Business School prompted me to reflect on technological disruption through an unexpected lens. I found an interesting artefact while exploring Oxford's rich heritage before starting the programme. 

It was Charles Dodgson's Wet-Collodion Outfit of Photographic Chemicals in the History of Science Museum. Charles Dodgson is known as Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland - my favourite book from childhood. He combined his work as a maths lecturer at Oxford's Christ Church with mastering the complex wet collodion process and embraced a revolutionary technology disrupting the art world: photography. The process required chemical manipulation and specialised equipment to create images. His portable case contained mysterious bottles and solutions, each crucial for preparing glass plates in this early photographic technique.

The disruption of photography dramatically changed art. What Dodgson explored over 150 years ago was deemed disruptive for traditional painters. What once took years or decades to create - like da Vinci spending 16 years on the Mona Lisa or Veronese taking 15 months for The Wedding Feast at Cana - could now be captured in seconds through photography. Due to this shift and inspired by photography's focus on light, we can now admire Dega’s ballerinas and Monet's garden series. Technology, once seen as a disruption, enabled faster, more spontaneous painting creation and benefited society.

The rise of generative AI: transformations in visual media

Just as photography evolved from Dodgson's chemical-laden process to instant digital captures and AI-generated synthetic images, we're witnessing another transformation in how we create and perceive visual media. Several days after discovering Dodgson's photographic kit at the museum, we discussed mixed reality, synthetic podcasters, synthetic media, people, voices, and music with Alex Connock at Saïd Business School. We explored how these synthetic creations affect businesses and consumers and shape ethical boundaries during the AI era, as well as the tools and technology that create this synthetic world.

I am optimistic about the future of art. Artists consumed technology and benefited from it. I'm scrolling through art photos on my phone. In the shot of Veronese's painting, the artwork is barely visible behind a sea of heads and selfie sticks.

Those images and videos emerge from generative AI - a breakthrough technology that became widely available in 2022. It leverages massive neural networks - Large Language Models to recognise and create complex visual patterns. Gen-AI is built upon Deep Learning - neural networks engineered to mimic brain function, stemming from Machine Learning algorithms that use pattern detection to make predictions. Together, they represent AI's evolution toward increasingly sophisticated human-like cognitive abilities in visual creation and understanding. AI tools generate hundreds of variations in minutes - each with different compositions, lighting, styles, and interpretations, all derived from several text prompts. The evolution of human intelligence generated machine intelligence, but are we ready for this fake reality? How will it affect the job market? Copyright infringement is another big open question here. Who owns this artwork? Does it substitute an authentic product? Does it benefit society?

Rhonda Hadi shared with us research on AI in advertising that revealed interesting trends. One study showed how AI-generated content can boost efficiency and diversity in ads, but consumers may negatively react if they feel misled about AI usage. Another study demonstrated that while people respond positively to AI-generated models who moderately resemble them due to our natural tendency to favour familiar features, excessive similarity triggers discomfort. As discussed in class, these findings highlight how brands must carefully balance AI innovation with authenticity and consumer trust.

Art in the age of AI: future possibilities and human stories

I am optimistic about the future of art. Artists consumed technology and benefited from it. I'm scrolling through art photos on my phone. In the shot of Veronese's painting, the artwork is barely visible behind a sea of heads and selfie sticks. However, Warhol's Marilyn portrait is captured perfectly clearly, without zoom. The crowds still gathering to admire these centuries-old masterpieces suggest we are drawn not only to beauty but also to the human story and talent behind it. Perhaps the actual value of art isn't just in its final form but in the human journey of its creation—whether that is 15 months of Renaissance craftsmanship or an artist's creative dialogue with AI.

Just as we marvel at the masterpieces of the Renaissance and Impressionism today, our descendants will appreciate artistic forms we cannot yet imagine, created through technologies yet to be discovered. Technology will alter how we produce art, but the question persists: which artworks will attract crowds in tomorrow's museums? Like Dodgson's chemical kit, perhaps today's AI tools will become treasured artefacts showing how art evolved. As Dodgson himself captured in 'Hiawatha's Photographing' (1887): 'Mystic, awful was the process' - a testament to the challenging nature of mastering revolutionary artistic technologies.

This article was crafted with assistance from Claude (Anthropic’s AI) and Grammarly Premium. The content, experiences and insights are based on my personal journey at Oxford, while AI tools assisted with proofreading, language refinement and structural suggestions. 

Oxford Executive Diploma in Artificial Intelligence for Business