AI Art and Its Limitations: Narrow Intelligence and Visual Indulgence

Abstract

This essay delves into the contemporary world of AI-generated art, uncovering a stark disconnect between its visual appeal and a deeper engagement with the essence of traditional artistic dialogue. While visually striking, this realm of AI art often falls short of capturing the critical elements of context, abstraction, and depth. This shortfall stems from an overly narrow definition of intelligence employed in AI development, which overlooks human consciousness's rich, embodied, and historical dimensions.

Moreover, the influence of market forces and the agendas of major tech companies further steer AI art towards a preoccupation with novelty and commercial viability, often sidelining the need for critical substance. This paper also examines the fluctuating expectations around Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), revealing a pattern of alternating excitement and disappointment — a cycle of 'AI Spring' and 'AI Winter' — that has come to characterize the AI landscape.

The challenges AI faces in tasks that demand deep understanding and reasoning raise pivotal questions about the nature of intelligence within AI. There is a growing concern that the mechanization of creativity through AI might dilute what is quintessentially human in art. The essay contends with the prevailing narrative that AI systems are closing in on human-level intelligence. It argues that the benchmarks for assessing AI's progress are often shifted without reaching a clear consensus, reflecting a broader uncertainty about what intelligence really means in the context of artificial systems.