Art through the eyes of AI: Here’s how artists and creative professionals are adopting AI in their work

Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) has become quite the buzzword since last year with AI tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney taking over our laptop screens. The technology has expanded its roots to establish a strong foothold across different industries.

While the use of AI in technical avenues has been largely accepted, its application in the creative industry has often been met with resistance and debates. In a field where human intelligence, imagination and emotion takes precedence, it's only natural for people to be vary of technological imposition. Despite this concern, artists and creative professionals haven't remained untouched from the possibilities and impact of using AI tools in their work.

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From AI-generated images and writing to AI artwork and music videos, this technology has come to occupy a significant place in the art world. Use of AI tools has become common in creative workplaces. This raises the question - is AI the future of art and creativity? Or rather, should AI be the future of art and creativity, given its ethical and legal implications? Mid-day.com speaks to artists, creative professionals and a lawyer to find out.

AI and digital art

Many artists believe that AI sparks creative interests and produces innovative results.

Manojna Yeluri, an artist rights, entertainment and IPR lawyer and founder of Artistik License, observes, "We're seeing artists and creative professionals employing AI to enhance their creative process. Some artists who are leaning on AI to help create art that is immersive and interactive. There are others who are using AI tools to imagine the future through art forms such as Futurisms."

Mumbai-based artist and filmmaker Varun Gupta, who is renowned for his AI-generated artwork, is one such person. He reveals, "My journey with AI art started back in November 2023. I noticed Pratik Arora's work, which inspired me and also ignited curiosity. I just wanted to try something new, build something different. That's when I came up with the Cyborgbay series where cyborgs and robots live in Mumbai in the 90s."

"Then I started experimenting with Midjourney. First, I only worked with prompts, but then began integrating other softwares like Photoshop," he adds.

Arist Varun Gupta (L); AI artwork 'Akashganga' by Gupta with Banaras as the backdrop (R)

Jenny Bhatt, a Mumbai-based pop artist, also employs AI tools in her art. "I use visual AI tools to experiment with visuals for my art. ChatGPT has also helped me curate art courses," she reveals.

Sharing her opinion on the scope of AI in art, she says, "AI is mainly used by digital artists, which includes illustrators, animators and fine artists. Technology has expanded the horizon of this field and added more scope."

Artist Jenny Bhatt (L); Abstract Ganesha artwork created by her using AI (R)

AI and creative jobs

Spending hours brainstorming creative ideas and racking one's brain to come up with content and designs were some common occurrences in the creative workplaces of the past. While these still exist to an extent, AI has largely transformed creative roles and introduced systems to make work easier.

"We've just brought in some AI tools to help out in different areas like writing, designing, and even coding. It's all about getting things done more efficiently. We've also got prompt engineers on board now who are great at showing everyone the ropes," reveals Kajol Bheda, founder of Mumbai-based creative agency Scribbld Social.

"At first, everyone in creative roles was a bit wary, thinking AI might take over. But it didn't take long for them to see how much it actually speeds things up and helps out. Now, they're all for it," she adds.

These practices are being adopted in most creative fields like fashion, architecture, marketing, etc.

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AI and music

"Diving into the world of artificial intelligence opened new possibilities for me. It allowed me to visualise situations, narrate stories and articulate ideas in ways that felt cinematic, which was previously challenging," says Kolkata-based indie music artist Siddhant Goenka.

Goenka has been incorporating AI elements in his music videos since 2023. His third song ‘Pari' became India's first AI-generated music video in December last year.

"No one else was leveraging AI in this space, and I saw an opportunity to gain a competitive advantage. As an indie artist, I aspired not only to be recognised for my music but also for pioneering innovative approaches," he explains, adding, "As I delved deeper into developing characters and stories, I became increasingly engaged. I realised that beyond being a musician, I could also take on the roles of director and scriptwriter, thus pushing the boundaries of my capabilities. The ability to imagine anything - from medieval war stories to majestic characters - was empowering. It allowed me to achieve feats previously hindered by technological limitations."

Indie music artist Siddhant Goenka (L); A still from India's first AI-generated music video 'Pari' (R)

Reflecting further on how AI has facilitated fulfilment of his creative vision, he says, "This journey has significantly enhanced my storytelling abilities, ensuring that my songs are perfectly synchronised with their accompanying videos, creating a holistic experience for the audience. My mantra has always been to offer a complete cinematic experience within the span of a three-minute song."

Music artists are increasingly employing AI to create specific tunes and include specific voices in their creations.
"AI tools are also being used in the music industry to generate sounds and voices that resonate with specific styles or even bring back certain nostalgic sounds," notices Yeluri.

Earlier this year, music maven AR Rahman had used AI to recreate voices of late singers Bamba Bakya and Shahul Hameed for a song in the movie Lal Salaam. He later revealed that permission was sought from their family and they were remunerated.

However, the music industry and fans alike remain divided on the ethical implications of the same.

Navigating ethical dilemmas and legal implications

According to some people, Gen AI poses several ethical challenges such as using someone else's work, lack of authenticity, threat to privacy, etc.

When Gupta first started experimenting with AI, he faced an ethical dilemma. "In the beginning, I used to doubt whether this process was ethical or if I was stealing someone's work. As I started working on it, I realised AI is just a tool. I am creating something with my idea and putting in prompts, based on which AI is giving me a result. After that, I still work on that and add my own touch to it," he says.

"We insert data into AI - this is an apple, this is a car, etc. Now, AI will take inspiration from these existing objects or images. Even otherwise, any creative work that we do is inspired by something. It's a copy of a copy of a copy. It's the same with AI," he explains further.

Bheda agrees. "AI makes the creative folks even more creative. After all, most art is inspired by something else, right? So, I see AI as a tool that just keeps adding to that inspiration, not taking away from it," she says.

"To be honest, ethical dilemmas exist for almost every kind of technology," Gupta comments.

This belief finds a supporter in Goenka. He says, "When we talk about AI being a threat, I'm reminded of the time when computers first came on the scene. They seemed like a threat too, but ultimately, they boosted our productivity and efficiency. I see AI in the same light. It's not a threat to authenticity. The output from AI depends entirely on the artist's input, and precise prompting is key to getting the desired results."

"When used correctly, AI can save a lot of time and make creative work more efficient. AI opens up new possibilities for artists, like creating full-blown music videos, artwork, teasers that were previously out of reach," he adds.

Goenka believes that our thoughts drive AI, and it can't replace human creativity and imagination. It is here to complement, not replace, creative endeavours.

"Some music producers are even using AI to generate the voices of late, great musicians, paying homage to their talent," he states.

However, several musicians have expressed concerns over misuse of their voices using AI, with some of them even seeking legal protection. Is that possible? We ask Yeluri.

"Yes and no. There's still a lot of grey areas when it comes to originality and ownership of such content. However, musicians can claim protection through the enforcement of their personality rights that extends to protection of their likeness, sound, etc. It is also arguable that they can claim protection through their moral rights, however, again, this is a grey area," she answers.

Lawyer Manojna Yeluri (L); Kajol Bheda (R)

Elaborating further ownership of AI-generated work, she says, "At this stage, there's still no absolute consensus on being able to own the rights in an AI generated work because we can't fully quantify the degree of human contribution to the creative work and also non-human ownership is not recognized by the law."

Due to this, the scope and implication of copyright infringement in AI-generated work also remains without clear answers.

AI also poses other ethical concerns.

"Privacy is a major concern. Another big concern is the dehumanising of creativity and lived experiences. By using AI, are we normalising adopting a synthetic lens to the way we create and express ourselves? This is particularly true in the context of AI-generated activism art like the recent "All Eyes on Rafah" image that went viral. Though incredibly powerful and impactful, many have also questioned whether the AI-generated artwork may have dehumanised the lived experience of those in Rafah. Additionally, there is the environmental cost of AI also. So, all this comes together as a question of how we can be sustainable and authentic in our engagement with AI," expresses Yeluri.

Bhatt also advocates for responsible use of AI. "Gen AI technology is also being misused for plagiarism. Midjourney has been trained using styles of different artists without paying any licensing fee to them. Anybody who uses Midjourney can use these artists' style. Because of this, many artists are also suing AI companies," she says, adding, "This amounts to unfair and unethical use of AI. These artists put in years of hard work and AI just takes it and gives it away."

"There's currently a movement on ethical use of AI. One should use tools that don't breach others' copyright. There are tools that aren't trained using specific artists' work but general art styles like anime, impressionist, etc. Adobe stated that they trained their AI on licensed stock images. Whether they pay or not for these images is a different story," she further states.

Despite Adobe Firefly's stated attempt to be a more ethical and safer AI option, questions were raised on its claims and datasets used to train the model.

Since Gen AI is an evolving field, mapping it's ethical and legal course is full of challenges.

Is AI the future of art and creativity?

Given its growing prevalence, it becomes important to evaluate the way forward when it comes to the use of AI in artistic and creative work.

"Earlier, a high budget and a lot of other resources were required to produce anything. With AI, it has become easier. There's more scope to experiment. I believe AI is the way to go. It's the future of creativity. In fact, it is a catalyst to creativity. It gives people power to visualise and create anything they like. My thought process has also developed through AI. I used to have very simple ideas. But now I think on more surreal, experimental lines because I know I can pull that off using AI," believes Gupta.

However, artists also believe that AI will not replace humans in creative fields. It is here to co-exist, not take over.

"While AI tools can facilitate creativity, helping artists bring their visions to life, they can't replace the magic of human imagination. It's the artist's unique experiences, emotions, and meticulous inputs that make the creative process truly special. I am just excited to embrace the collaboration between humans and AI, and watch the creative possibilities soar," says Goenka.

"We live in a time when everything can coexist - hand painted, digital, AI-generated art, and that is what's happening and will happen," concludes Bhatt.