What Art Jobs Won’t Exist After AI: DALL-E and ChatGPT (Artificial Intelligence)

Watercolor painting created with DALL-E

How AI Will Change the Art Industry

The art industry is a buzz about AI and how it will transform creative fields. Many artists online are sharing their opinions, whether good or bad, about how AI technology will shape our future. On one side of the aisle artists are saying it will make certain jobs easier such as using AI to recolor a background or digitally paint time consuming parts of digital art. Artists on the opposing side of the aisle are saying it will take artists jobs completely. Out of curiosity, I wanted to know what the AI machine believes about this topic. Since it’s going to be the one taking those jobs away, maybe it’s response would give insight into jobs that actually would be affected.

I asked ChatGPT about the future of the art industry and which jobs would no longer exist. Here is what ChatGPT said.

What art jobs will no longer exist after artificial intelligence?

ChatGPT:

Some art jobs that may be impacted by artificial intelligence include tasks that involve repetitive or highly technical skills, such as digital painting, photo editing, and animation. However, jobs that require creativity, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence are less likely to be fully replaced by AI. Examples of these jobs include art curators, art critics, and art therapists. Additionally, it's important to note that the field of AI is still in the early stages of development and it is difficult to predict exactly which jobs will be affected. It's also possible that new job opportunities will be created as a result of advancements in AI.

ChatGPT’s response surprised me in claiming that highly technical skills and digital painting specifically would be affected. As both a fine artist and digital artist, I wonder if the field of digital art will be taken over by AI technology. I’m already seeing how people untrained in fine art are generating creative images from DALL-E and other platforms that look like real art. The most concerning part of all of this, at least for me, is that the AI technology that replaces jobs might actually make it more difficult for artists to advance their careers. If mid-level creative jobs are eliminated because of AI technology, then lower level jobs will have no ladder to progress their careers. That natural progression from designer to senior design to art director might be interrupted. Those necessary years of working alongside someone more experienced will not happen. I don’t see a lot of creatives talking about this. Instead, I see a lot of fear about job losses. I’m more concerned about job trajectory. Artists won’t stop making art just because a computer can do it. However, they might not pursue specific jobs because there’s no future or the competition is heightened.

AI Generated Art Steals from Artists

If you’re like me, then you probably have also been wondering how your art fits into a future alongside aggressive advancements in AI technology. More and more artists are coming out about their fears and concerns. There’s also an issue with stealing when AI generated art is created. The algorithm takes from what it has sourced online. Right now platforms such as ChatGPT only have the 2021 internet to resource. Yet, many artists are finding that their art has been stolen by the AI machine to create something for someone else. This type of modular creation takes inspiration from already existent art. This is problematic on many levels. You can see in the watercolor painting above that I made using DALL-E that it is capable of creating a watercolor style painting. When I asked it to generate the painting, it created 4 different variations and all in primary colors.

AI Art Doesn’t Reflect Art Fundamentals

The one advantage I see right now for artists is that AI generated art does not reflect the main fundamentals of good composition. Although the thumbnails above look appealing because of the colors used, the perspectives on all of these images is relatively the same. I’ve noticed with all of the images I tried producing that the AI machine seems to not have a focal point. The art is not grounded in any logical perspective. I think this is the main advantage we really have as artists.

What do you think? Will AI art take over the art industry by storm and put some of us out of business?