AI - Artistic Inspiration

When I was at school AI was short for 'artificial insemination' and it was all the rage in agriculture. Now of course it's Artificial Intelligence and is not only all the rage but infiltrating every aspect of our lives at a terrifying pace. But is it all bad and shouldn't artists embrace AI rather than fear it?

AI is here to stay and we need to get on board now. I say grab it, push it to its artistic limits and rather than worry about it 'stealing' our patrons, use it for inspiration. Just look at my mixed media work on the left above and see what AI did to it in less than a minute - albeit following my clear instructions. I asked Gemini, the free app on my Samsung, to create my artwork in the style of Picasso. I love it - it's taken the composition to the next level and I am now inspired to redo my original using the AI generated version.

Or I could just use the AI version, because, according to the Gemini platform, the creator (me) retains the right to use the image. I created the original elements AND wrote the instructions and so I take the credit for the outcome. I therefore argue that AI is about pushing the creative limits rather than copying or replacing our work and we should make the most of it - on our terms.