I have been taking lots of screenshots on my phone recently. Why? Well, I have noticed an explosion in AI generated pictures, or artwork, accompanying user-generated online content. Specifically on LinkedIn and personal blogs.

That’s grand. I get why people do it. They lack artistic talent but want eye-grabbing graphics accompanying their content.

Fair.

One thing I find peculiar is that the artwork has a very AI-ie vibe: The colours, shading and the overwhelming amount of shit going on every picture. And, I’m sorry to say it, the lack of personality, lack of soul.

I mean, just look at my screenshot gallery below.

I’m no expert on AI generated images. In fact, I have no good basis to comment on art, neither human nor AI created. I am, however, an economist, and therefore a fully certified Besserwisser, a know-it-all. And with that qualification I am just going dive straight in and comment on this phenomenon.

So I have three theories.

First: AI is still a bit of a one trick pony, fully trained on images from street artists in tourist locations, you know the once who do these kind of spray-painted space-and-universe pictures.

Second: Perhaps the range of AI generated artwork is much more diverse, but because I have been prompted of the existence of this type of AI pictures, I notice them and not the other types. Other types that might be undistinguishable from the real-human-deal. A bit of a Baader-Meinhof-Phänomen.

Third, people who use AI to generate images for their written content are more likely to like this kinda artwork and publish it with their content. These content creators have then guided and probed the chatbot until it creates this kind of image.

I guess the truth probably overlaps with the latter two theories. I am sure the nerds in California have access to more than just street-artist-universe-spray-paint-art.

Personally, and I say this with 100% confidence and 0% empirical backing, I think the last theory plays a greater roll in explaining the truth. I think the bias driving these peoples preferences are correlated with their lack of artistic talent. So, I’m saying, in this case that taste and talent are correlated.

To support my theory, I present my first and only pice of evidence, albeit anecdotal. If these people publishing those pictures with their written content were talented artists, they would just do like me, a great artist, and make their own awesome artwork, take a photo of it with their iPhone, and use it to accompany their written online-content.