Labelling ‘AI art’: Is it art or not? 

A look at the rise of “AI art” and the debate amongst artists, AI enthusiasts, and the general public.

Labelling ‘AI art’: Is it art or not? 

When scrolling inside your social media dashboard, you happen to see a post about a school-based poster making contest. 

At first, you are intrigued by how ‘perfectly-made’ these posters are. However, something catches your eye beyond the thousands of reactions on the post. 

The posters looked uncanny with its overly-saturated colors paired with smoothened faces of its subjects. 

This makes you realize that it was a perfect recipe for an ‘AI-generated art.’ 

A look at ‘AI art’

AI has quickly permeated its way to be integrated in a person’s daily digital life, not just as a tool for information, but also in the form of a visual tool. 

In a 2025 study, ‘AI art’ was described to employ intricate algorithms that are almost indistinguishable to human-made artworks. It is also argued that it made art accessible to anyone.However, debates continue to spark towards considering it as a new form of art. 

While it can cultivate artistic creation, the same study also explained that ‘AI art’ is defined as an imitation of human art devoid of human qualities such as emotional depth, experiences and perspectives. 

Another study also highlighted that human recognition is needed on whether a generative art should be considered an art or not. 

Aside from this, it also raises ‘AI art’s ethical issue related to its credibility. The source materials of these generative art does not come from its own but instead, it came from different sources mainly from creatives. 

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‘AI art’ in public and design spaces

In the forums, people have expressed their disappointment against ‘AI art’ being slowly normalized among public spaces. 

One user on Reddit shared that they feel disheartened by having an AI-dependent activity in school despite having free design tools available on the internet. They also argued that continuous usage of AI makes leeway for students to be overly-dependent on it. 

“I’m not even an artist myself but… it’s just also disrespectful for artists in general. Parang tinakwil na nila yung mga taong creative sa mga educational setting,” they added under the post.

Comments also shared the same sentiment towards AI-dependency in creating artworks. One user also responded, saying, “[It] genuinely sucks so much when they preach about responsible use, but [it] teaches us to be dependent on it.”

This problem goes way beyond not just in academia, but also in design spaces. 

Local creatives have shared that as ‘generative art’ continues to be normalized in design spaces, it continues to undermine the value and process of creatives’ effort.

Multimedia artist Al ‘AMP Creatives’ Peñafiel shared that AI evolved creative processes instantly, which mocks artists and their artistry. He added that it should be utilized more as a tool rather than being fully dependent on it. 

Meanwhile, Jesse ‘izumi.designs’ Francisco, a graphic artist, explained that having ‘AI art’ posted everywhere shows proof that art is being undervalued.

“Kahit na napapaligiran tayo ng art, to the eyes of people, it’s nothing,” Francisco explained. 

He also said that most people’s understanding of art only focuses on how art is just a mere product, rather than the process itself.

“When it comes to ‘AI art’— nawawala ‘yung process, nawawala ‘yung conceptualization. Lagi siyang end product, laging tapos na. It’s already made,” Francisco added.

In line with this freelance multimedia artist Hannah ‘by.hani_elll’ Laguda emphasized that hiring human artists would be better than opting for a premium subscription on AI.

“Kung kaya naman nila bumili ng premium subscription ng AI, bakit hindi nila kayang mag-hire ng isang totoong artist. Gan’on ba kahirap ‘yun?” she said. 

Francisco and Laguda acknowledged how ‘AI art’ is slowly replacing human artists, especially instances when companies are laying off artists to make way for AI. 

However, they shared that it will only last short term as long as artists, together with the whole community, will continue pushing back against AI usage in art.

‘AI art’ not a replacement

Local artists believed that continuous dependency on AI will continue to disrespect the whole creative community. 

Denise ‘hoshiriu’ Ordas, a TikTok digital artist since 2021, expressed her frustration that ‘AI art’ constantly ripped out works from creatives’ spaces were stolen content under the guise of ‘art.’

“Nakaka-frustrate din kasi siya as an artist kasi ‘yung mga art na ginegenerate ng AI is collective art— collective data from real artists as well,” Ordas shared. 

She added that AI made it harder to prove themselves as a digital artist in communities. 

“Hirap na nga po kaming i-prove na totoo kaming mga artist, mas mahirap na ngayon kasi, iniisip na nilang  kayang-kaya silang gawin ng AI,” Ordas said.

Sharing the same sentiments, self-taught digital artist Justine ‘toastyorfeo’ Lacsamana emphasized how ‘AI art’ has started to mimic artists’ own art styles, which can heavily affect people’s perception on human-made artworks.

“AI art can be deceiving for some people, especially for those who can’t differentiate between real art and AI art. They resemble [each other] so much if ‘di mo siya titingnan nang matagal,” Lacsamana said.

She also cited some other artists’ experiences online being accused of using AI.

“Even real artists [keep] on being accused of using ‘AI art’ because AI is specifically copying their distinct art style,” she added. 

Meanwhile, X (Twitter) artist Kelly ‘kellognuts’ said that AI art is not capable of something original enough to inspire an entire new art movement.

“It can try and copy what we have done, but it cannot come up with an entirely new idea in the way that we do,” she argued. 

She also added that AI art would not be a legitimate form of art if it steals from artists.

“Even if it derives from human art, it is not made by a person. Sure, nagprompt ka and may lumabas na image— that’s still not still being involved,” she explained. 

While they shared their frustrations with generative art, artists still believed that it would never be a replacement for human-made art. 

Ordas emphasized how artists have their own unique art styles AI could not just easily replicate. 

“It is the greatest watermark you can have as an artist. ‘Yun yung reason kung bakit willing [mag-commission] ang tao sa’yo,” she said. Ordas added that there are people who still keep on commissioning real artists especially in fan communities. 

Lacsamana also highlighted how AI will never feel the genuine satisfaction of creating an art. 

“It’s like mimicking something that it cannot mimic— if you put them together, makikita mo talaga ‘yung emotions [are] put into real art rather than ‘AI art,” she said.

Adding to this, Kelly explained that art is a vessel of empathy, which AI wouldn’t even understand. 

“Even though it replicates what art is supposed to look like— it will never encapsulate what it truly means to be a human,” Kelly said.

Human artists like Ordas, Lacsamana and Kelly proved that AI learning models would not copy through its algorithms’ a one delicate human thing: a soul. 

Ethical measures on ‘AI art’ and its root

A machine learning model that steals and copies from different artists’ years of creation does not deserve to be called a new form of ‘art.’ Since in ‘AI art,’ it takes pride in prepared prompts where it generates what you call ‘art.’ 

Creatives practiced for several years but learning models have trained for a short period to scrape their months of hard work without their consent. Most of these were scraped from different sources of creatives— from uncredited photos from photographers to art from artists. 

Recently, almost 12 million images posted in Cara were scraped by one AI user to feed Generative AI (GenAI). GenAI aims to create new forms of content, which includes ‘AI art,’ using scraped data from different sources of the internet. These sources include unauthorized use of images posted in social media platforms. 

In a social media post by Jingna Zhang, the creator of Cara, explained that AI users have come to breach artists’ digital safe space. 

“People just want a safe space, but AI users go out of their way to destroy it,” the creator said in their post. 

Compared to other digital platforms such as Meta, X (Twitter) or TikTok, Cara doesn’t allow data scraping, which was one of the reasons artists have chosen the platform to host their artworks. 

The creator also stated that they have had anti-bots and anti-scrapers built in their site. Despite all these security measures, AI users still managed to sneak their way in and steal from artists. 

“Why should the world’s data [be up for grab] when we say no? We know that breaking [and] entering is illegal in real life, [and] we don’t blame a victim if their home isn’t strong enough to stop crimes,” Zhang added. This has also caused mental stress towards Zhang for trying their best to stop the attacks.

If a platform like Cara was breached, how can creatives sit down without worrying that their posted works will be data scraped and fed to GenAI? 

Creatives have also shared Zhang’s frustration on the data breach by AI in Cara. One user commented under the post, saying, “They just don’t care about our consent. They don’t give a f*ck. They want to train their [AI’s.]” 

Zhang then posted a plea about asking donations for Cara’s legal fund to help them take legal action against scrapers. The creator added that the attackers have scraped Cara for the third time.

“I care because it is my home, our home. I won’t let them trample over the hearts of everyone. Our team may be small, but we want to defend Cara,” they said. 

As of today, there is no comprehensive law that is strictly protecting artists on GenAI since it started being accessible to everyone. Government strategies also have little to no effect on tightening measures against AI use in art not just in the Philippines, but also globally.  

Without a strong foundation on ethical measures against GenAI and ‘AI art’, creatives will continue to be vulnerable to data scraping. Unfortunately, this can not only apply to creatives, this can happen to anyone.

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