Thinking about Commercial Art with AI

There are many people around me who have majored in art, and many of them have pursued painting as their profession. As a result, I often engage in and listen to discussions about AI-generated works with great interest.

Through these conversations, I hear various concerns as well as aspirations regarding the impact of AI in the art world. After extensive discussions, I have come to the conclusion that AI-generated art possesses a dual nature—it both undermines traditional artistic values and simultaneously functions as a highly effective tool.

1. The Decline of Technical Skill in Commercial Art

One thing is certain: the golden age of technical skill in commercial art—where the ability to create aesthetically pleasing and beautiful illustrations was highly valued—is coming to an end.

If one were to ask what AI excels at, the answer would be its ability to efficiently generate "clichés."

By voraciously learning from the compositions, artistic direction, and established visual solutions accumulated by humanity’s greatest artists, AI can now create images that surpass those of most amateur artists in both aesthetic appeal and visual density. Furthermore, it can achieve this at an unprecedented speed, a task that human artists would find difficult due to time constraints.

In the past, producing a well-composed and highly detailed illustration required a professional artist to invest a significant amount of time. Now, such works can be generated with just a few clicks. (Of course, professional artists still produce superior results.)

As a consequence, artworks that rely solely on eroticism, anatomical compositions, or lack narrative depth are now facing obsolescence. A quick survey of platforms such as Pixiv, Reddit, and other art communities reveals that AI-generated erotic art has already become the dominant form.

We are entering an era in which the value of artworks that exist merely to stimulate desire or are simply "beautiful" without deeper meaning is diminishing.

2. The Strengthening of Individuality in Commercial Art

While artistic beauty can be a form of individuality, it can also be understood as adherence to "clichés." Any experienced artist understands that, to some extent, there are "correct answers" in illustration.

The fact that the answer is somewhat predetermined implies that an AI capable of effectively expressing clichés can thrive in this domain.

Now, I believe we are entering an era in which breaking away from these clichés and embracing individuality will be more highly valued. This shift is already taking place, but in the future, individuality will become even more crucial in commercial Art.

3. The Emergence of AI as an Artistic Tool

AI continues to advance, moving beyond the stage of generating random images from prompts. It has now reached a level where it can reflect the user’s intent. For example, tools such as Photoshop have introduced features that allow AI to transform rough sketches into refined illustrations.

Looking ahead, we can anticipate an era where it becomes possible to create visually striking and compositionally complex illustrations with remarkable density—achieved through AI-assisted processes. Consequently, art will become even more aesthetically refined, while the manual labor required from artists will be significantly reduced.