The Digital Life

The Digital Life


AI Goes to Art School

April 14, 2016

Jon: Welcome to episode 151 of The Digital Life, a show about our adventures in the world of design and technology. I'm your host, Jon Follett, and with me is founder and co-host Dirk Knemeyer.

Dirk: Happy day, Jon.

Jon: Yes, indeed it is. On this happy day we are going to discuss yet another area of humanity's output that can be taken over by artificial intelligence.

Dirk: Ruh-roh.

Jon: Yes. We are going to talk a little bit today about The Next Rembrandt project, which was actually put together by an advertising film, if you can believe it, plus some very smart technologists who analyzed a host of Rembrandt's paintings, and then based on that, allowed an artificial intelligence to pick a particular subject that Rembrandt might have painted. In this case, a Caucasian male with a goatee, very styling, and actually have the AI go ahead and paint this painting using a 3D printer with translucent paints in the style of Rembrandt.

If you go online you can see a video about this. Additionally you can see various critiques of the work. There will be some grand unveiling at a certain point in time down the road. The critiques of ranged from, "Wow. This is amazing and it looks just like a Rembrandt painting," to, "Oh yeah, well if Rembrandt ever did this it would be a really mediocre Rembrandt painting" Nonetheless, it seems like if you want an original Rembrandt these days, all you need is a super computer and a 3D printer and voila, you have something that the master would have probably never done for you personally. If you're an advertising agency with some bucks to spend, and some technologists on board, well, then you can resurrect the dead artist and have them create something at your bidding.

Which is entirely disturbing to me for a couple of reasons, which is that this derivative work, which it is very derivative, is also ... I wouldn't say it's devalued Rembrandt's artwork, but really, I think the idea that the AI is developed enough to create a mockery painting or a "close enough but no cigar" painting, it just kind of rubs me the wrong way.

Dirk: Why?

Jon: I think it's mainly the idea that ... You know, when you watch a great movie versus a B movie, right?

Dirk: Okay.

Jon: B movies are great because they're B movies and they're either not plotted well or the dialogue is bad or something. You can appreciate them for what they are. This is really a B movie Rembrandt posing as a technological wonder, right? I don't think it is quite ... It's an interesting experiment, but I don't think it rises quite to the level of artwork.

Dirk: Human artists have been doing B versions of Rembrandt style art for centuries. Do those bother you similarly, or is it the fact that it's a machine?

Jon: No, because I think the B grade Rembrandt paintings enhance the reputation of Rembrandt as being the master, right? You know that you're looking at a B grade painting. If it were the AI trying to approximate a so-so artist who is imitating Rembrandt, then I'd be okay with it. Maybe I'm just a little more disappointed with the hype surrounding it than the actual accomplishment, which is quite incredible.

Dirk: Is it incredible or not? What I'm hearing you say is what you are ... I don't know, upset might be the wrong connotation. What you're upset about is the fact that the media has said this is such a big deal, and you think it's just sort of a crappy version.

Jon: Exactly.

Dirk: You think it's a really impressive thing at the same time.

Jon: I think it's impressive technology, but I don't think it approximates the human artist by a long shot.

Dirk: The Rembrandt artist.

Jon: Correct.

Dirk: There are many human artist that might approximate —

Jon: Yes, the masterful human artist. A few weeks ago we were talking about ... Which is not to say that it's not coming, which I guess is another nagging indicator in the back of my head.

Dirk: Right.

Jon: That very soon a ... You know,