AI artists are only artists in the way that movie directors are artists. Yes I believe it is art, yes I believe we are artists of a sort, yes we need to put effort & techniques & skill into making AI art,
but we are not the ones making it, we are only the ones directing, that's why film directors are called just that: directors. But then I liken it to taking a photo: we may not be the ones putting colour on the film, we may not be the ones drawing with silver nitrate,
but we are the ones organizing the photo, developing it, editing it, setting up the scene so we can photograph it. How is that much different from AI art?
An argument I hear is that AI art is taking away business from artists but I say it makes more artists because there is another form of art that people can practice (because yes: art, including ai art, is a practice). Photography took away business from portrait painters, no?
Well maybe it's that the art AI is taught from the art & works of living artists & these artists are not credited. Are we not all taught by the things around us? Though I do agree with this point.
The art of living artists (who have put so much effort into learning how to make art, except for those with natural talent,) is used without their consent to teach an AI how to do even better. It seems unfair, doesn't it? Especially without credit or consent.
Art is hard to define. Poetry is hard to define. Is a classically trained musician really an artist if they are only performing the art of others? Perhaps a classically trained musician is an artist whose art is "performance" but not "music" then.
Music is hard to define & song is hard to define. Sometimes the art is in an essay explanation, not the prompt "art" piece. Again, art is hard to define.
What seems to be even harder, is defining an artist.
Artist, creator, director, et cetera. What overlap is there? When can these be the same? Do other languages have the specific terms to differentiate between these?
Speaking of language, is constructing a language (conlang) art/writing? I'll leave you with these ideas to ponder as you go about your day. Perhaps all of us will come to an understanding.