Art moves us because we sense an intentional mind behind it. When we see rocks arranged in a line, we infer someone put them there on purpose. AI-generated art lacks that clear source of agency, which is why it fails to create the same emotional connection that human-made work provides.
At the very, very, very, very earliest roots of art, I think there is something just about recognizing agency. Like, if I'm walking through the forest and there's 2 rocks— 2 rocks, I don't care. If I'm walking through the forest and there's 5 rocks in a straight line, that somebody did that. Yeah. And what does it mean that they did that? And that's either a good thing or a bad thing. But now I understand there is agency. It's one of the problems I think with AI-related art is this, Where's the agency? Because I think a lot of the vibration of art has to do with this perception that on the other side of this thing that I'm looking at, a painting, a novel, a piece of music, is agency. And my communication is actually with that person through this work.
