By Anna Kapatsoulia & Konstandina Kefala

Artificial intelligence, in the past three years or so, has become a worldwide phenomenon. Each and everyone of us is familiar with it to some extent; regardless of whether we are totally against or totally for it, it has started to invade most of our spaces. The AI overview on searching engines, AI «companions» on social media… This new technology has appeared nearly everywhere. However, this sudden outbreak in popularity has also affected a very particular aspect of humanity: art.

AI art has sparked a huge debate amongst artists and non artists, of all ages and skill levels. Is AI art ethical? Can it be considered real art, even? First of all, we should set a clear definition of what we call «AI art». We can define it as all creative work produced by an AI programme; for example an image created by an image generator, a song partially written or sung by AI or even a piece of literature written by ChatGpt. This work is created by a person who types in a prompt, which the AI then proceeds to fulfill and produce something similar. This specific work is done by a genre of AI called «generative AI.»

An important piece of information to this discussion is figuring out the the specific details of generative AI. Of course, no human invention has a moral alignment from its time of creation; it all depends on how we use it. Artificial intelligence as a whole isn’t inherently bad, nor is it all that new. Some could argue that AI has existed for as long as computers. When a computer system is able to perform tasks that would usually require human intelligence, it is considered AI. For example, CAPTCHA tests that sometimes appear when we enter a website is a form of AI. Certain video games also use this technology for background character interactions. Generally, this specific type is simply neutral: it is a tool that we can use in order to help push humanity forward. Scientists and other professionals have planned or have already started projects to include artificial intelligence in their work. There are prospects to utilise AI in medicine or environmental issues, and many people generally have a positive outlook on this. Technology is bound to evolve, and AI for a long time has been viewed as the next big step for humanity. Somewhere along the way, however, something went awry. This is where generative AI comes in.

Generative AI is a specific type of AI that specifically intends to produce entirely new work. As was mentioned above, generative AI is able to generate images, text, music, even code. ChatGpt and similar models have this characteristic: it’s not an algorithm that just helps humans and replaces automatic and mundane procedures(such as CAPTCHA tests), it replaces the very act of original creation. AI art is closely tied to this type of technology. The generator is exposed to a wide variety of source material, a wide set from which it gathers data and then trains itself on it. For example, if somebody asks to generate an image in the style of one particular artist, the AI will scan the internet and the set of data it has accumulated over its training and produce an image which displays characteristics of that artist’s personal work, a mere imitation of their style.

Problems begin to arise once we analyse this process of creation a little more closely. This entire procedure holds a lot of space for criticism, and is generally pretty looked down upon by the majority of the art community. First of all, the ways with which the AI models are trained are oftentimes problematic and unethical. Large AI models, such as ChatGpt are exposed to the entirety of the internet; which more often than not includes artists and creators who did not consent to their work being used as a training example. Whether they’re big and popular or small and unknown, every work posted on various platforms is fed into these learning models. Particularly, this process is facilitated by companies and platforms which cooperate with AI. Apps such as Twitter or Pinterest automatically updated and are now using their users’ uploads to train AI models. This change was done very abruptly and a lot of creators weren’t informed of the shift, which means they have little to no say what their work is used for. Additionally, this became the new default, meaning people have to manually select to avoid this feature; something which many artist aren’t aware of or know how to do. This, of course, sparks a lot of controversy, and for good reason. An artist has every right to choose what their art is used for, what morals and values it contributes to, what companies or people it helps uplift. Many people are against this new change and companies’ sudden shift towards AI favouritism has disappointed them.

Another big part of this discussion is the environmental impact generative AI has on our planet. Artificial intelligence requires huge amounts of energy to function. In order to train these models there is an extremely high amount of gas and heat emitted. Elon Musk’s GrokAi, which is used in Twitter, was recently recorded by a special camera producing an incomparably high amount of fumes. Evidently, such emissions are terrible for the environment. The heat that appears as a side effect reaches very high temperatures, something which may disturb the local or general climate. Of course, we can’t forget the emitted gases which are a leading cause of pollution. In 2025, it has been estimated that the carbon emissions of AI systems could go as high as 80mil tons. It’s almost absurd how little people care about this aspect of AI. While everyone is making a collective effort to lower the negative impact they have on the environment, big corporations and people using generative AI are mindlessly contributing to its destruction. As if that wasn’t enough, these models also require large amounts of energy to function daily. This energy is primarily sourced from water, which is also used to cool the data centres. This need then leads to insanely high amounts of waste. Generating a single image from AI or writing a 100 word text is analogous to spilling a 500ml water bottle on the ground. Every day, ChatGpt uses around 150 litres of water and, in 2025 as a whole, its consumption was equivalent to the entire global annual consumption of bottled water. Generative AI in particular is one of the leading factors to the decline of our climate, and it’s only just beginning. How worse will this overconsumption get over the next few years? How much more water will be spent on useless and pointless prompts, all encouraged from corporations only caring about their own personal profit? People are being evicted from their homes, acres of land sacrificed to make space for factories and data centres. How much more can our planet take until it finally breaks?

Finally, another main talking point regarding generative AI is whether or not its products should be considered real art or not. What even is art, anyway? Art, in short, is any form of expression. Art is intentional or accidental, art is raw, unadulterated sentiment. It is something so inherently and undeniably human that the mere idea of AI generated art is incorrect. It is a way for a person to express themselves, portray feelings they cannot show otherwise; it is sourced from emotion. Since artificial intelligence cannot feel, it cannot create art. There is no art without the artist. Through art, a dialogue is created; the artist tells you their opinions, their values and ideas and emotions. If there is no one speaking, why should anyone listen? Art has existed for as long as humanity has. Ranging from cavemen writing on walls and rhapsodists reciting poetry, to well known writers and painters whose names we see in history books. Everything including painting, sculpting, literature, music, dancing, theatre, cinema… art is human, art is universal, a place where everyone belongs no matter their income, their race, their religion. It is one of humanity’s most uniting forces, its purest form of expression. Art is the effort put in, and since AI “artists” don’t put in any effort, their art cannot compare. Soulless art is not art.

To summarise, AI art and generative AI as a whole is a flawed concept, both in ethics and practical execution. All of us ought to make a conscious effort to stop using it at any capacity and stop supporting technologies that actively limit our creativity and humanity.