By Katelyn Obermiyer The Jambar
Nothing gets my adrenaline going more than a good craft show. The brightness of tule wreaths, the feel of embroidered sweatshirts, the smell of homemade baked goods — it’s enough to make the elderly lady inside me want to pinch cheeks and crochet. In my case, I make macramé.
Throughout the year, I frequent craft shows to appreciate the craft and skill of others, but recently, I’ve noticed the influx of artificial intelligence-generated pieces. From t-shirt designs to business signs, these pieces start to look — and feel — impersonal.
While AI gives people a viable way to remove cost or skill-level barriers to arts and crafts, it also reduces the emotional satisfaction people get from taking a risk with art to express a unique vision.
But with the logical aspects aside, the satisfaction we get from making art ourselves comes at a cost with AI.
A psychological risk to making art.
Creating art gives people a way to express their visualizations and showcase skills, but it also leaves a level of vulnerability. This vulnerability paints a tendency to psychologically avoid making art if anything risks it not turning out well.
According to a blog post from quilter Carolina Oneto, any art we make feels personal to us, which can subject us to criticism and rejection — our worst fear as communal creatures.
This exposure creates a psychological response where when we’re faced with any creative task, we often want to find ways to reduce the risk — the risk a piece looks visually unappealing, that no one will like it or that it was a waste of time.
But no risk paints no reward.
AI has given people a new way to “ensure” the final product will turn out acceptable and reduce that vulnerability.
If someone can prompt the generation of visual art, they reduce the risk. If the piece comes out great, then they have an adequate final product. But if the visual comes out subpar, “Well, it was the machine’s doing, not mine.”
The risk is offloaded, and the reward is just the product. Art was never about just making a final product. Without that risk in vulnerability, we can create satisfactory pieces but not deep satisfaction.
Being human means exploring, creating and also making mistakes. Attempt to design something from you. Try out a t-shirt sketch you have in your head. Create a sign for baked goods based on your mental mosaic of visions and examples.
While making art “by human” requires more time and runs risks, it’s more fulfilling and special in the long run. It allows people to express their individuality in a unique way.
Even if you don’t consider yourself an artist, trying something different can have benefits.
If you’re someone currently or who wants to be in the arts and crafts world and turn to AI out of fear for how a piece could turn out, prompt yourself to take a risk and design it by human — it will draw something much more fulfilling in you.