Shore Musings: On Artificial Intelligence

Shore Musings is Collin Hall's column about life on the shore: the good and the bad. Collin is the editor of Do the Shore.

Every facet of the internet has been hugged by AI, and I think the speed of that happening has really thrown people into chaos and confusion.

Folks in my life claim they are smart and detail-oriented enough to spot the difference between an AI-generated image and a real one. The claim increasingly seems like a defense mechanism, a way of taking power back from the AI Cambrian explosion touching most of Earth’s citizens.

We have to be diligent about preserving human-made artwork because the economics of generated assets are so enticing for business owners and other money-minded folks.

I interviewed a business owner a few months ago who told me, a little giddy, that he no longer has to work with artists because he can just generate imagery on his phone.

It's hard to put a numerical value on human art. The guy I'm talking about here owns an amusement park with mini golf. What does it matter to him that their logo was generated rather than drawn?

But I zoom out a little bit and imagine this at scale. The 1940s through the 1970s were the golden age of commercial artwork in America. Flip through any magazine from that time, and the advertisements are nearly as clever and beautiful as the content.

Yeah, the ads were in the service of money and sales. But real artists used time-honored mediums of painting and drawing to elevate them.

I don't like it when people say art should exist for art's sake. I think most artists would say they would love to make art for money's sake. Why can't it be both?

Mark Quinette, an artist I interviewed for my airbrush story, had this to say:

"Being an artist has always been very competitive... We’re so flooded with so much artwork now that it’s a lot harder to be an artist because there’s so much art being visualized. It loses its uniqueness or flair. As far as running a business, with direct-to-garment printing, vinyl, and now with AI as a competitor in the ring, I think it becomes a lot harder for traditional artists to survive."

We can make things faster and cheaper now. But for the consumer, that's more like a regression.

There was a time when the Cape May County Herald (our parent publication) had an on-staff painter. That seems absurd today, like some kind of luxury. That's a regression.

Do the Shore over the past two years has been filled with custom illustrations and artwork. The cover image on today's magazine was hand-sprayed by an airbrush artist. I watched the guy spray the artwork right in front of me. I left his studio practically skipping.

I am lucky that my bosses let me pay for this real artwork. It seems that our competitors are not so lucky. I have seen some of our peers shrink in page count, and eventually, turn to AI generation for both cover art and article content. Woe! I feel for them, their hands likely forced by economic pressures.

But we have to hold the line. If you own a business: pay an artist to make that flyer, to illustrate your logo, or to design your menu. Because one day, you might find that your specialized ability has been automated too.