Art, Craft, and AI

Guernica, by Pablo Picasso

The categories of art and craft need to be re-understood and perhaps even re-imagined for the age of AI.

Why? Because AI can do craft and it cannot do art. Let me explain.

What is art? 

Perhaps you think of a painting hanging in a gallery. Maybe you think of a great artist like Frida Kahlo or Pablo Picasso.

This is a good foundation. Of course, art now comes in many forms, but the core purpose remains the same as it was for these artists. The purpose of art is to express something, to convey an emotion, a vision, or an idea. There is no practical purpose other than that.

Art is connection with another person. This expression is theirs alone and it cannot be duplicated without becoming worthless. Being Picasso mattered. Being like-Picasso didn’t.

What is craft?

Perhaps you think of woodworking, pottery, jewelry, knitting. That’s a good start too.

The craftsperson uses hard-earned technical skill to create something beautiful or useful. They also express something but this expression comes from their culture or heritage. It is not theirs alone.

Craft can also be created on screens or on paper. For instance, life drawing, portrait photography, and most web design are forms of craft. (There are exceptions of course and some people turn these into art.)

Craft is related to art, it’s also creative and it overlaps it, but it’s also very clearly different.

What’s the difference?

Many would say craft is more functional and practical than art, but I think the most important difference is this: the goal.

With craft, the goal is already explicit. You want a pleasing portrait of the wedding couple, with nice composition, nice poses and expressions from the couple, pleasing light, perfect exposure and focus.

With craft there is a formula and this formula can be converted into an algorithm. Here’s Midjourney’s version of a “gorgeous wedding portrait photo.” Infinite photos that look something like this have already been taken and will be taken for years to come. The formula for craft evolves over the years, but there is a formula. The fun and challenge of doing craft is to execute the formula as well as you can.

An AI-created wedding photo portrait

Art does not have a formula. It is ineffable, it is magical, it is shrouded in mystery. Art mostly happens in our subconscious mind and artists are famously inarticulate about how they do what they do.

Because there is no known formula, there is no algorithm. 

Again, AI can do craft. It can’t do art. AI will surely improve at craft. It’s unclear if it will improve at art.

The artistic element of what you do will remain safe from automation, and it’s the most essential element of what you do.