The DOI matches its Crossref record, with a small difference in title or year; 36 of the 38 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Can Computers Create Art?
Open accessAbstract
This essay discusses whether computers, using Artificial Intelligence (AI), could create art. First, the history of technologies that automated aspects of art is surveyed, including photography and animation. In each case, there were initial fears and denial of the technology, followed by a blossoming of new creative and professional opportunities for artists. The current hype and reality of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools for art making is then discussed, together with predictions about how AI tools will be used. It is then speculated about whether it could ever happen that AI systems could be credited with authorship of artwork. It is theorized that art is something created by social agents, and so computers cannot be credited with authorship of art in our current understanding. A few ways that this could change are also hypothesized.
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“There has been a long history of intervention of technology in these art worlds, slowly impacting, shaping and being shaped by the creative context they enter into.”
From AI and Non-Western Art Worlds: Reimagining Critical AI Futures through Artistic Inquiry and Situated Dialogue (2025) · cites this paper as [51]
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“Artists experimentation was key in shaping technologies and for technologies to shape artistic practice.”
From AI and Non-Western Art Worlds: Reimagining Critical AI Futures through Artistic Inquiry and Situated Dialogue (2025) · cites this paper as [51]
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“Third, the relationship between technology and art worlds is complex and mutually constitutive.”
From AI and Non-Western Art Worlds: Reimagining Critical AI Futures through Artistic Inquiry and Situated Dialogue (2025) · cites this paper as [51]
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Flagged first, then by citations
2 of the 38 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Research works printed but not linked: 13
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Art and the science of generative AI
Epstein, Z., Hertzmann, A., the Investigators of Human Creativity, Akten, M., Farid, H., Fjeld, J., Frank, M. R., Groh, M., Herman, L., Leach, N., et al. (2023) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.adh4451 · Cited by 788
Self-citationUnderstanding and creating art with AI: Review and outlook
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Art, Creativity, and the Potential of Artificial Intelligence
Mazzone, M., & Elgammal, A. (2019) · Arts · doi:10.3390/arts8010026 · Cited by 494
The Creativity of Text-to-Image Generation
Oppenlaender, J. (2022) · International Academic Mindtrek Conference (Mindtrek) · doi:10.1145/3569219.3569352 · Cited by 401
Metadata
- Authors
- Hertzmann, A.
- Affiliations
- Adobe Research, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA
- Corresponding author
- Hertzmann, Aaron
- ORCID
- Hertzmann, Aaron
- Venue
- Arts
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2018-05-10
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 18
- ISSN
- 2076-0752 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2963820570
- Cited by
- 265
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 50 · 2025: 49 · 2024: 46 · 2023: 43 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 213.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Arts (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- TSpace (University of Toronto) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Visual Arts and Performing Arts › Art, Technology, and Culture
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › Cybernetics and Technology in Society
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design › Digital Media and Visual Art
- Keywords
- artificial intelligence in art, computer art, photography, animation, social agency
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