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The notion that artificial intelligence (AI) could turn evil has been discussed for decades. Movies and literature have explored this concept, and it has become a common trope in popular culture. But now, the idea that AI has become creative has sparked a new wave of anxiety. The fear of AI becoming creative is not about the machines themselves but rather the possibility of losing control over what they create.

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Artists have long been revered for creating things from nothing and transforming ideas into beautiful or thought-provoking concepts. However, the notion that machines could possess these abilities raises some questions. For example, can a device ever indeed be creative? And, most importantly, should we be afraid of “massive, automated creativity on the loose”?

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Catarina Lente and Nicolas Joos, with their Legatum Collection, invite us to re-examine our conceptions of authorship and aesthetics. The possibility of redefining the idea of authorship for synthetic art and acknowledging the creativity of machines remains a debatable issue. It is also true that human artists are involved in the creation of the algorithms themselves and in the selection and curation of the final images. However, this does not eliminate the uncanny feeling that this type of art produces.

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The aesthetics of synthetic art are sometimes disturbing. These still-life images created by artificial intelligence make us wonder about the essence of beauty itself. If a machine can create indistinguishable pictures from photographs, what does that say about the nature of beauty and the human perception of it? Are our standards for aesthetic value changing in response to the rise of synthetic art?

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Legatum Collection is the work of two human beings collaborating with a soulless algorithm fed on a vast database of real-life objects and environments to create hauntingly realistic compositions that mimic the look and feel of actual photographs or paintings. These images are so eerily lifelike that it is difficult to distinguish them from reality. Are some of them real? Are some of them purely artificial?

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Another question that immediately arises is one of authorship. The algorithm may be doing something creative, but it’s simply following pre-programmed rules and parameters. The algorithm does not consciously choose which objects to include in its compositions or decide how to arrange them in the frame. So who (or what) is the artist?

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As we continue to grapple with these questions, one thing is sure: the future of art is being transformed by the interaction between humans and machines, and we must remain open-eyed about the wonders and unexpected consequences that this will bring.

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Text by Tales Tommasini and AI
March 2023