Lately, I have noticed that AI has been rising and has been integrated into many fields of work and study. For example, OpenAI and ChatGPT have been very powerful tools that have been started to be integrated into different fields. Amid this technological wave, AI’s integration in image manipulation and humanities has raised important ethical considerations.
In the article “How AI is hijacking art history”, Sonja Drimmer states that
“But outside of flexing the prowess of AI, is there any value – artistically, historically – to what the company is doing? These recreations don’t teach us anything we didn’t know about the artists and their methods.”
This quote raises the ethical issue of the genuine contributions of AI-assisted projects beyond showcasing their technological powers. This is a concern, as these AI-generated recreations fail to provide meaningful insights about the artwork, history, or techniques. These AI-generated recreations often generate feel-good stories, diverting attention from AI’s biases, which impact the quality of the work produced.
In addition to this, Drimmer states
“These studies and projects also seem to promote the idea that computer scientists are more adept at historical research than art historians. For years, university humanities departments have been gradually squeezed of funding, with more money funneled into the sciences.”
This concern raised by Drimmer further supports the worry that AI-driven art projects contribute to the perception of computer scientists being more skilled in historical research than art historians. However, the quality of AI-driven art projects appears to be in question in the article “ChatGPT is a Blurry Jpeg of The Web.” The decrease in funding for humanities departments only adds pressure for humanities departments to adopt computational methods and not historical approaches. Both these quotes raise ethical implications that are centered around authenticity, trust, and the impact of human creativity and knowledge. To add to this, the article “ChatGPT is a Blurry Jpeg of The Web” by Ted Chiang compares ChatGPT and lossy compression algorithms. He then raises concerns about the model’s true understanding of the content and the possibility of fabricated answers. This raises the question of whether AI truly understands the content before giving out an answer or drawing implications. The use of AI raises ethical issues, as it can potentially misrepresent historical narratives, take away from experts in the field of history, and delve away from actual important information about the piece of art. As AI continues to grow and develop, a thoughtful approach to navigating the complex abilities of AI and humans should be taken.
