Can artificial intelligence replace art? You have one hour. This is how long it will no doubt take the Mauritshuis Museum in The Hague in the Netherlands to respond to some vehement messages on social media.
Because the establishment faced a wave of protests from art lovers after choosing to display a work designed with Midjourney, the artificial intelligence creation tool.
Works to replace a masterpiece
It all started with the loan of one of his most famous paintings, the pearl girl by Johannes Vermeer. The work is currently in the Riksjmuseum in Amsterdam as part of a temporary exhibition dedicated to the artist. So far, nothing very original, with frequent loans between museums. What is less is supplying such an emblematic work in its absence.
Therefore, the museum came up with the idea of setting up a rather original system: it launched a call for projects asking artists from all walks of life to create their “own Girl with a Pearl Earring” and thus win the opportunity to be displayed in a digital frame placed in place of the usual work.
Le musée received 3500 proposals and a selection of 175. For the retained works, a festival of revisits, of the epi de maïs orné d’une coiffe à une Jeune fille dessinée sur la carte de Manhattan en passant par une version in wool. But above all an ultra realistic painting, produced by an artificial intelligence.
The girl with AI
Because of the 5 most original artists, a “printed” version hangs on the museum wall, like a real work. There was an outcry among visitors, screams of horror from painting enthusiasts and outraged comments online when it was discovered that one of the five paintings was not the work of an artist, but of an artificial intelligence. The comments then speak”insult“, of “dishonest competitor” or even of non-support of the museum to the artists.
What is certainly impressive is that the work created with the Midjourney tool is an interpretation of the the pearl girl very modern and ultra recognizable. “The artist” Julian Van Dieken had to explain, especially justify himself on Instagram in the face of the attacks, that he had created this version, not for the contest, but for his account dedicated to the use of artificial intelligence in art. , and that he never hid the creative process when he applied.
The museum also had to make its mea culpa, explaining “not having taken into account the ethical issues related to AI when choosing” and remembering that there is nothing to be gained at stake.
AI wins art contest
This isn’t the first time art and AI have collided. A work also created by Midjourney even won first prize in a Colorado art contest last August. It could have been in the digital art category, but the competition hadn’t liked it and had reproached him for his “unconventional” method.
This case especially revives the delicate debate on copyright and the generation of images by AI. In fact, an artificial intelligence never creates ex nihilo. It was fed with millions of images, not always all free of rights. It remains to be seen who really is the author of the result and there is debate there.
Source: BFM TV
