Artificial Intelligence is impossible to avoid. It’s many companies’ next big thing, as they know implementing it will increase their stock prices. One search on Google and the top result is an AI-generated summary of the answer. Someone wanting to scroll through Tiktok for thirty minutes will almost definitely see at least one AI-generated video, despite always clicking “Not Interested.” Someone watching a Youtube video will likely get interrupted by an ad guaranteeing a five figure salary every month, just by using AI. It’s inescapable, and it’s here to stay.

Super Bowl LIX commercials were littered with this new technology. OpenAI’s commercial featured AI in the scope of innovations throughout history – the discovery of fire, the creation of the wheel, automobiles replacing horses and the creation of the lightbulb, ending with the voiceover, “What do you want to create next?” Google attempted to humanize their AI model Gemini in a heartfelt ad about practical uses of the technology, only to have to go back and re-edit the commercial because of mistakes the AI made. Worst of all was Coca Cola’s commercial, which was a video created by three different AI studios. While detailed analysis of the commercial makes it obvious it was computer-generated, the fact that most people didn’t notice is fair; most people saw it on a TV, and the images of fake, shiny polar bears and trucks that are too smooth are fleeting. While the company got backlash for its commercial, it also had publicity, and there is seemingly no remorse– the company now has a global head of generative AI.

If corporations could really save money by not having to pay real artists, then why wouldn’t they do it? Adobe Stock, which used to be a place where photographers could upload their images for compensation and for public use, is now overrun by images generated by AI. Not only does Adobe upload their own generated images, but they allow other people to make money uploading these images. The site requires that the images are labeled as “AI generated,” but many photos are still convincing. While AI photography is known for being too shiny, cartoonish and having trouble with words, there are some photos that look like they were captured in real life. Adobe doesn’t need to pay real photographers when they can get their computer systems to create photos for them. Further, their model is trained on previous real photos that have been uploaded by actual photographers.

This leads into the main problem of AI in the creative world: not only does it take the place of artists, but it directly steals from them. In March of 2025, Meta trained their AI using the books from LibGen, a book piracy site containing almost every book ever written. This means that Meta’s AI will now source its information from hundreds of thousands of authors who wrote their books using their own creativity and imagination. The more AI steals from successful artists, the more successful and impressive it will become.

The film industry is also being infiltrated. In 2025, Adrien Brody won the Academy Award for Best Actor due to his role as Laszlo Toth in “The Brutalist.” So much hard work went into the movie, and it shows in the final product. This is especially commendable considering their budget of only ten million dollars. However, the movie used Respeecher - a software company used to edit speech using artificial intelligence - for the Hungarian dialogue. While Adrien Brody is Hungarian, he never knew the language up until the filming, and had to be coached to get the language and the accent right. However, the director wanted the voice to be completely native, so he had Respeecher tweak Brody’s dialogue. While human editors still had to direct the use of this software, it does call into question the fact that Brody won an Academy Award - in a very competitive year for Best Actor - when his performance wasn’t technically all his own. If the director wanted the Hungarian language to sound natural, he could have hired a native actor. The impressiveness of the role will now always be overshadowed by the fact that AI was used in post-production.

Videos, images, writing, and audio –there is no aspect of the creative process that AI can not have a grasp on. Social media is now full of tutorials of how creators can make money posting AI content: a computer-generated script, read by a computer-generated voice, showing images of videos and photos generated by a computer, or playing background music solely created by a computer. There are multiple instances of AI-generated work winning art competitions. While Boris Eldagsen, who who won a photography competition using an artificial intelligence image generator, nobly turned down the award, he also said he applied “to find out if the [competitions] are prepared for AI images to enter. They are not.” AI generated images are able to be more impressive because they don’t have the restraints of a budget, don’t need to spend time editing and won’t produce any human errors. Entering prompts to a computer isn’t creative; having a good idea doesn’t make one an artist. It’s the hours of preparation, time honing the craft, the trial and error and frustration and finally, the satisfaction of a completed product.

It’s estimated the Mona Lisa took fourteen to eighteen years to complete. Gone with the Wind took ten years to complete, and Margaret Mitchell didn’t even plan on publishing it. It took “Bohemian Rhapsody” at least six years to be written and produced. Claude Monet didn’t receive public recognition until his forties. Art takes time and becoming an artist takes work. It’s easy to look at this new technological advancement and see it as a way of achieving something great in a short amount of time, but it’s not art. It’s talentless, it’s mindless, and it’s stolen work.

At its core, AI is an amazing technological advancement that human minds had the genius to create, and there are so many ways it can improve society. It has the ability to detect signs of cancer that doctors miss– radiologists working hand-in-hand with this technology were 2.6% better at detecting breast cancer than just the radiologist. This is artificial intelligence in the context of historical innovations– technology used to improve and expand human lives.

But AI doesn’t benefit the creative world, it benefits corporations and the paychecks of their CEOs. The computer won’t go on strike for increased wages or better working conditions. The computer won’t ask for a sick day or call out because of a family emergency. Maybe the computer isn’t as ethical or talented as a real human would be, but it’s more time and cost efficient, so it’s the perfect employee. Throughout history, technology has always been a source for replacing human jobs in the name of convenience, which can lead to innovation and progress. However, technology must not be allowed to create a world where ideas and creations no longer require human experience or even existence. The purpose for art and entertainment is for humans to express their ideas and feelings, to bring people together in feeling. People can watch a movie, or read a book, and realize that someone had the exact same feelings as them. Someone can spend hundreds of hours and shed blood, sweat, and tears, all in the name of writing a book that they are proud of. Hundreds of skilled people can spend years directing, writing, acting, and editing a movie, to accumulate into ninety minutes worth of human talent. Someone can read that book, or watch that movie, and be touched in some way, by excitement, by grief, by joy, by anger. Art is not a computer designing something it thinks an individual will like. Art is when that individual can step into the shared connection of the human experience by witnessing the work of other humans.

Written by Gracie Streetman, Photography: Carolina Flores, Design: Cella Deer, Social Media: Kailu Taylor, Styling: Zoe Stathopoulos

Art is Dead