Can Machines Create Art?

Abstract

The question: “Can machines create art?” is becoming a “hot” topic in the international art business. While some speculate that there will be a “machine-art” explosion as the trigger for new heights of turnover and profit in this sector, others believe art will never be truly created by machines so that investment will just be into a bubble destined to burst once the initial hype is over. And while the former are convinced that the unprecedented Artificial Intelligence revolution will also open up a new epoch of art that may put an end to the presently known art world, the latter insist that any aspiration to have machines as authors or even “inventors” of art is, in the literal sense, an artificial construct launched by a few who want to reap easy and fast profits. The author weighs the pros and cons in play.*