All of our images are registered as original oil paintings in the U.S. Copyright Office-

Library of Congress, under the authorship of artist Bertha Cuéllar Aguilar.

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AI vs. Human Ingenuity and Inspiration

Artificial intelligence, or AI, and its integration with human intelligence is set to deeply transform how we live, unlocking new forms of economic growth and innovation. However, AI represents not only tremendous opportunities but also major challenges, and this is very evident when analyzing its involvement in certain artistic disciplines.

As it relates to images, AI systems claim to generate “original” works based on scrapped bits of illustrations gathered from the internet, ultimately creating brand-new ones in a matter of seconds. AI companies classify creativity as a time-consuming hassle to attract more customers. They advertise that for a fee, you can get unlimited, what they refer to as, “originals” with just a few clicks. They even go so far as to relate it to as “magic”… Wow! Now, that is convenient! It is evident that AI doesn’t involve any ability or talent whatsoever, since anyone who has a few dollars to spear can “create” as many images as they want. Selling an AI-generated image is like selling sand by the bucket on a beach. If anyone can grab it then it has no value. 

AI not only promotes apathy but also severely undermines the potential of human ingenuity and inspiration. It is of the utmost importance to encourage human creativity and craftsmanship by buying art that is a product of an individual’s talent. A straightforward way to do this is to check if the image has copyright protection. AI-generated images cannot be registered since they have no intellectual property. In other words, they are not of human creation.

No Copy/Paste, No Undo Button Either! 

Paintings have been a medium of expression throughout human history. In fact, paintings, by means of rock pigments, have been used as early as the 7th C. However, in the last forty years, and more significantly, after the boom of the internet and more recently the boom in artificial intelligence, there has been a substantial increase in the use of digital technologies in the arts.

Traditional art uses mediums, such as oil paintings, acrylics, and watercolors, whereas digital art uses technologies such as hardware and software. However, there are certain very distinct characteristics between both that one must always keep in mind.

A Sensory Experience: The first and most evident difference between traditional and digital art is that traditional uses physical media such as paintings, canvases, and brushes, instead of computer screens and styluses. In other words, traditional art can be touched, and smelled during the creative process, creating a strong sensory connection between the artist and his work.

No Copy/Paste button: In digital art, the artist uses a stylus to “paint” on the computer screen, which gives the digital artist the ability to create uniform/identical strokes. In contrast, the traditional artist paints unique strokes every single time, since there is always a unique mixture of colors and hand precision in every movement. Moreover, in digital art, the artist can simply “cut” and “paste” a certain element of his creation instead of going through the process again. 

No undo button either: Another difference is that in digital art, everything is done through layers, which not only increment upon one another but also give the artist the ability to separate them without affecting the others.  Contrastingly, in traditional art, layers keep increasing as you physically paint over them, and errors cannot be undone entirely. This restriction forces the traditional artist to find solutions to specific situations as they occur, consequently improving his skills.

Uniqueness: Furthermore, traditional art is not possible to duplicate, even if it’s painted by the same artist, and this “uniqueness” is not only its most cherished benefit but also what gives it value. In other words, its imperfections are what makes it both beautiful and valuable.