I think we can all agree that the song “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” is a masterpiece, an original piece of art. So, why did Tears for Fears cover generated with artificial intelligence for their album back in October of 2024?
“Turn your back on Mother Nature,” a lyric sung by Roland Orzabal, who is the main songwriter, brings irony to their music. It’s odd to think they’d go through with turning their back on nature, due to their use of AI in their live album titled “Songs for a Nervous Planet.”
Tears for Fears stated in an Instagram post that they had the mixed media digital collage made by a real person, but AI was one of the many tools used to create it. In outrage, many fans were disappointed with the band, and of course, the band received some backlash for using AI.
I understand why fans would be ticked off by this. Tears for Fears is a band known for making absolute hits like “Head Over Heels” and “Shout.” Honestly, the cover could easily be replicated by simply standing in a field of sunflowers and having some guy in a space suit stand right in the middle, without ever using AI-generated art.
This brings me to my point: I think AI-generated art of anything shouldn’t work. The dictionary definition of the noun “art” is, “The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination.”
Art, to me, comes from the brain and the heart. People express themselves through art. Each brush stroke they do, each lyric they sing or each rhyme of a stanza they write, is a creative depiction of what the human mind can do.
Although, people argue that AI can be used as a creative assistant when making art. They say that it helps with generating ideas and automatically enhances sloppy art techniques. But to me? I think that’s lazy.
Creating art that looks good and makes you feel proud is hard. Unless you’re a prodigy, making “good” art takes skill, and it could be months or even years trying to hone a specific skill. Art isn’t supposed to be easy and made without a thought. Typing a prompt into ChatGPT shouldn’t be considered “Art.”
If you want to write an absolute banger or paint the next Mona Lisa, don’t use AI. It may not look good or even sound right at first but that’s what makes it human. People make mistakes almost everyday, and that’s okay. Art is fun and shouldn’t feel soulless simply because a robot with an artificial brain made it. In my opinion, AI shouldn’t be a significant part of art, or even be considered art at all.
