We talk about freedom the same way we talk about art,” she said, to whoever was listening. “Like it is a statement of quality rather than a description. Art doesn’t mean good or bad. Art only means art. It can be terrible and still be art. Freedom can be good or bad too. There can be terrible freedom.
But does Art don't need the intention to create it, or at least to declare it as Art?
For example, the Meme I made, would it be considered Art even if it was not my intention to create art?
( Okay this is less about AI, more about philosophy at this point)
I think art is as much in the eye of the viewer as it is the maker. You'll never convince me that Jackson Pollock was an artist, I simply don't see the art in his work, but you may have a life changing emotional experience viewing it. My opinion doesn't devalue your experience any more than your experience devalues mine.
If there's one thing artists don't do, it's try and build a picket fence around Art to separate it from Not Art. Duchamp was 100 years ago i think the point that "Art can be anything and everything" has been abundantly made during the 20th century.
Art doesn't need the intention to create art in order to be art. Everything is "Art." From the beauty of the Empire State Building to the most mundane office building, all buildings fall under the category of art known as architecture. The same way that McDonalds technically falls under the category of the culinary arts.
Your argument that image generators are okay because you don't intend to make art is like arguing that you don't want to wear fashion and then you buy your clothes on Temu. From the most ridiculous runway outfit to that t-shirt you got at Walmart, all clothes are fashion, but that's not the issue. The issue would be that you bought fast fashion - an industry built entirely on horrible working conditions and poor wages that is an ecological nightmare. And this is the issue with these generators: they sell you a product made using stolen work (wage theft basically) that uses more electricity than every renewable energy resource on the planet.
The issue isn't the tech. It's the companies making the tech and the ethics involved. Though there's an entire other discussion to be had about the people who call themselves artists because they generate images, but that's not relevant here.
To me art is playing with your senses. A painting plays with your sight. Music plays with your hearing. Statues play with your touch. Dancing plays with your sense of balance and proprioception. ...
So anything that does that, like a nice sunset, is art to me.