Diotima: The Marist Undergraduate Philosophy Journal
ability to produce deepfakes, 2 and even racial discrimination, 3 all embroiling public dialogue. Increasingly, we see the delegation of tasks fall into the metaphorical hands of automation. One cultural sphere in which this is rapidly occurring, perhaps outside the purview of the public, is art. An array of artificial intelligence programs can now generate images according to user inputs, raising significant ethical concerns about the practice, decried as a detriment to art and artists. In this paper, however, I outline why I believe the most prominent of these arguments cannot withstand detailed scrutiny. 2. What is artificial intelligence? What do you imagine when you read the words “artificial intelligence”? Maybe you see Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, or the loveable automaton WALL-E, or Ava from Ex Machina . Perhaps you have avoided these influences altogether. Regardless, it is conceivable that these are the images that arise in many minds when asked what, precisely, artificial intelligence is. These depictions of artificial intelligence have their roots in the early half of the 20th century but were solidified by the 1927 German silent film Metropolis , wherein an animatronic simulacrum impersonates a key character. 4 Yet, these depictions of artificial intelligence, while entertaining and thought- provoking, are not faithful to what AI is at this stage of development. To anthropomorphize AI is a folly. Artificial intelligence, while designed by humans, does not, and cannot, experience human emotions. Whatever social cues AI may seem to display are merely faux constructs; it remains a machine adherent to its
2 Kevin Stacey, “New Report Assesses Progress and Risks of Artificial Intelligence,” Brown University, September 16, 2021, https://www.brown.edu/news/2021-09-16/ai100. 3 Cade Metz, “Who Is Making Sure the A.I. Machines Aren’t Racist?,” The New York Times , June 23, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/15/technology/artificial-intelligence-google-bias.html. 4 Rockwell Anyoha, “The History of Artificial Intelligence - Science in the News,” Science in the News, April 23, 2020, https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2017/history-artificial-intelligence/.
Volume VII (2024) 3
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