What AI Art Really is
Algorithms will never compare to human creativity.
During its 2025 I/O event, the bloated tech giant Google announced the third iteration of Veo, a tool that uses AI to generate videos. What makes this release significant is that Veo 3 bakes in sound that not only matches the environment, but also generates and synchronizes dialog with its characters to a high degree of accuracy. Sure there are some signs that these short videos come from AI rather than film makers. The mouth movement is a little too smooth compared to real life and some objects still change as the algorithm tries to make sense of the physical world. However, this shows that developers have pushed their AI tools to the point that the corruption of storytelling and art is now a reality, especially within large media companies.
Despite its name, there is nothing intelligent or creative about artificial intelligence. AI is really just a computer algorithm based on our still limited understanding of the human brain. Instead of calling these shorts AI videos or attributing creativity to something that’s not alive, I believe there is a better phrase to describe them.
Machine generated content.
I think this is a more accurate description of the phenomenon that has gripped the high tech world for years now. It describes the underlying processes that make these videos and removes the misconception that there is something else going on under the hood besides math. But it seems we are still missing something important in the conversation of AI, something that can steer the conversation in the right direction in how to best treat this software and where it truly offers benefits in our lives.
It’s not real. AI art and videos do not exist. What we see are just pixels generated by a machine following an equation that estimates what can best match whatever prompt a person gives. There is no meaning in the content that it generates. It’s too smooth, as if was refined far too many times. It feels sterile, void of purpose. This is how creative bankruptcy happens. People get so caught up in the trend of ‘wow look at what this cool new thing can do!’ and run headlong into incorporating it into their businesses and lives that they fail to see how it can so negatively impact their way of thinking. We risk creating a culture where we let AI do the thinking and creating for us.
There are also the legal issues surrounding these AI models. They are trained from images and videos posted on the internet by individuals and studios. These are copyrighted. Their owners decide where and how these works are distributed and used. Early in the AI revolution, I remember hearing that people have spotted artist signatures in generated images. To benefit from their work outside of any license agreement is theft.
Machine generated content in the form of art, videos and storytelling is worthless and dehumanizing. Art is considered art because it was made by human hands. We know it comes from living, creative individuals who pour their heart and soul into their projects. Just looking at an artistic masterpiece can stir our emotions. There is a sort of pull we feel when we witness the brush strokes (physical and digital) up close. We can even feel inspiration as we wonder at the skill we have witnessed. Authors, artists and filmmakers, when discussing their work, often tell of how other people’s creations planted seeds in their minds that eventually turned into well-loved stories. People take inspiration from each other and the world they live in. AI is uninspired and an insult to real artists and storytellers.
Where can AI algorithms be useful? If we look at how AI can be incorporated into technical jobs then the benefits and legality become clearer. Right now in the world of software development, AI is showing promise as a glorified auto-complete utility. In the right hands the speed at which companies can release quality software has the potential to grow significantly. However, it has quickly become clear that the knowledge professionals have built over the years is still desperately needed to determine whether the code will work correctly or if it is the product of AI hallucination.
And even in some film production work AI can provide a benefit. I know one individual who needed to set up lighting for a shoot and utilized AI to help analyze the scene and provide recommended settings. He still had to make some adjustments because he was able to see where the AI made mistakes, but he was able to save a lot of time and effort. In these situations, AI allows creatives the ability to get more done, yet it can’t replace their hard earned skill.
I hope that just as mass production and cheap products did not kill people’s desire for handmade crafts, people who have become inundated with the fake and inauthentic will flock to creators who persevere through this uncertain period.