Can a Computer Have Intention, Sophistication or Passion?

Will algorithms ever become artists?

Photo by Franck V. on Unsplash

How do we look at art? What are our expectations around it?

Perhaps we think that a work of art was made to express a set of emotions or as a subjective response to a situation?

If so, are you willing to look at a painting made by a computer and treat it in the same way as a painting made by a human? Could artificial intelligence ever produce a genuinely significant work of art?

Who Says if it is Art or Not?

First things first, let’s get to some fundamentals. Who says what is art?

Is a work of art “art” because the maker says it is? Or does an object become art because it has some inherent quality to it, like beauty?

These questions have no easy answers. Some will say that a work of art is born out of the artist’s intentions. Others will disagree and say that the artist’s intentions are not relevant, and that it’s the viewer’s subjective response that counts. Others will assign “art” as the status to wider historical circumstances, the social milieu or cultural zeitgeist. In other words, they will look at how the object was “received” by its first audiences.