Generative AI and artists – Risks and benefits

AI is such a hot topic, and it seems to be transforming everything…also for artists. It’s not the first time that tools came along that changed the creative landscape. Adobe and Apple once transformed the creative toolbox.

AI isn’t just changing how we create—it marks a true paradigm shift. It acts like a mirror, reflecting what it really means to be human. In an age of automation, we are drawn back to our core qualities: love, intuition, imagination, humor, our bodies, and emotions.

With the rise of AI in all areas of our lives, we are being prompted toward a rise in consciousness. That’s what we are witnessing: the next step in human evolution.

Let me unpack this a bit…

No machine can capture our essence. Art is a deeply human act—raw, authentic, emotional, and original.

Art has purpose:

it can convey ideas, emotions, or experiences that may be difficult to articulate otherwise.
I can expose injustice, uncover social or environmental issues, spark dialogue, and connect us.

Art ventures into areas where logic, science and AI cannot go, reminding us of truth and values.

Above all, it makes us feel—it brings awe, joy, reflection, or catharsis, needed in times of numbness.

Now, how can we use AI’s power as artists?

AI lowers the barrier to entry, letting us work quickly with risk-free iterations. I value divergent thinking—many ideas, trials, and mistakes that become portals to creative solutions. AI lets us explore forms and variations we couldn’t easily create before—without starting from scratch.

The strength of AI tools is enormous, enabling us to solve problems once thought unsolvable. For example,

AI can now predict environmental threats such as coral reef damage. Artists came up with creative solutions: 3D-printed coral structures that aid reef restoration. Material designers came up with biodegradable polymers that decompose naturally, addressing waste and pollution. Even sound has become a tool—through acoustic installations that attract marine life back to damaged reefs. Marco Barotti’s Coral Sonic Resilience has shown coral settlement rates increase up to sevenfold.

Now with AI, we can pull from large datasets, analyze, and see patterns previously invisible to us. Artist Refik Anadol’s “Nature Dreams” uses 300 million photographs—the largest dataset of nature ever gathered for an artwork. It is a moving, dream-like experience that helps us see Earth’s beauty in a completely new way.

Artists with AI can create something novel through cross-domain juxtapositions. We can blend images from different fields, mix styles, and come up with new art-styles.

AI-generated ideas then can be translated into the physical world. Woodworking, glassblowing, stitching, bookbinding, jewelry making—these expressions of art are already experiencing renewed demand as artists fuse craft with innovation.

My expanded definition of art is that everything is creative energy—making olive oil, baking bread, or planting trees, all arts flourish when we give them our full attention.

What about AI risks?

AI bias appears everywhere: facial recognition software misidentifies people of color more than whites. Wrongful arrests due to inaccurate facial recognition have life-threatening consequences. Loan algorithms have gender bias, resulting in lower approval rates for female borrowers.

AI companies scrape millions of artworks without permission or compensation, leaving artists wondering who owns AI-generated art that’s trained on their life’s work. The legal landscape remains murky—when an AI creates a painting in the style of a living artist, who profits?

These aren’t abstract future problems; they’re happening now and demand immediate solutions.

Beyond that are larger questions about humanity’s future. Experts like Nick Bostrom, Yuval Harari, and Tristan Harris warn of more profound risks, potential existential threats if AGI emerges without proper safeguards.

“If we don’t understand the risks appropriately, then we do not get to a positive future,” Harris reminds us. Current AI development could fundamentally alter human society, potentially concentrating unprecedented power in the hands of a few tech companies while leaving billions behind.

These discussions are so important, but they can also amplify the kind of fear that paralyzes our thinking.

Science fiction has primed us for dystopian AI narratives—the robot uprising, the loss of human agency—but these High Risk-low-probability narratives create fear and narrow thinking. Society already struggles with anxiety, polarization, and a sense of powerlessness. People with fear are more easily manipulated. We desperately need visionary thinking about how we want to live.

Conclusion

This is where art becomes essential—artists have always been visionaries. From Leonardo da Vinci’s flying machines to Refik Anadol’s data landscapes. They’ve shaped how we imagine the future. With AI, artists can push this even further—becoming more visionary, authentic, and powerful. Future envisioning is a skill—a muscle we can train. Lot’s of methods we can use.

There is much mental noise. We need more embodiment—staying in the body, creating space, listening to our intuition. Connection, too, becomes crucial. As we spend more time with devices and AI, we risk social atrophy, making true connections more precious.

As Max Strom reminds us, the photo of your child on your desk is not your child, just as communication through text is merely a splinter of actual connection. When we meet face to face, something changes: our breath slows, the body remembers how to rest, and in the moment of deep presence, we feel at home again—soul to soul, heart to heart.”

I imagine artists creating for more connection, and from the heart, using AI or not…envision communities that generate energy and harmony with humans, animals, trees, plants, water, clouds, and earth.

Take time to envision – not predict, but imagine – what you want your life to look like. Write it down. Draw it. Or imagine it with Midjourney. Because the future belongs to those who dare to dream and shape it rather than react to it. Read more…