AI can aid creative process but can’t replace human touch, says art school dean

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) can help streamline workflows for creatives, but the human touch is essential for fundamentals like design theory and conceptualization, according to the dean of a top art school.

“AI has definitely become a tool to go from point A to point B in the design process, but the final output should still be the students’ own. It can’t be taken directly from the AI and then submitted to the client or teacher,” Maria Sharon M. Arriola, dean at the School of New Media Arts at the De La Salle–College of Saint Benilde, told BusinessWorld last week.

“AI can polish and organize your thoughts, but the main idea is still yours.”

She added that AI can’t teach students key skills, like composition, color theory, and basic art principles.

“We acknowledge the presence and the direction of the creatives industry, specifically in the use of AI, because it has value in streamlining certain processes. But there is one process that it can’t skip, which is basic conceptualization and design,” Ms. Arriola said.

“[For example,] how do you translate your vision or imagination accurately into tangible form? A student has to use their own basic skills, and we (teachers) have to train them.”

The rapid development of AI technologies has affected the creatives industry and raised concerns regarding job displacement, the decline of artistic ability, and generative AI models’ unauthorized use of copyrighted content.

Ms. Arriola, who is also the chairperson of the Commission on Higher Education Technical Panel for Multimedia Arts, said educators have to recognize that AI will continue to affect the art industry.

“We acknowledge the resistance, but we don’t stop there. We don’t force the teachers [to use AI], but we have to make them understand where the industry is heading.”

Arts and design teachers must give students tasks that combine theory with more situational applications, she said. They should also train students to enable them to keep pace with industry trends.

“We make sure that our students, when they step out of the campus and apply what they learned in our programs, should also know how to adapt,” she said.

The global market size of AI in media & entertainment is projected to reach $99.48 billion (about P5.8 trillion) by 2030 from $25.98 billion in 2024, according to a study published last year by business consulting firm Grand View Research. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz