Will AI Replace Art Historians?
January 29 2024
Picture: hyperallergic
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The website Hyperallergic have published a short review of Amanda Wasielewski's 2023 book entitled Computational Formalism: Art History and Machine Learning published by MIT Press. The thrust of the book (as I understand it) is examining whether AI will one day become an important tool for Art Historians, and what methods might be developed to make progress in areas of authentication etc. (yes, that increasingly occurring new and often controversial 'tool' which press are enjoying putting into the news these days).
To quote the final paragraph of the review:
In more straightforward cases of known attribution and singular styles, AI can sort images efficiently. But can it interpret art? The answer is a fairly straightforward “no.” AI lacks human researchers’ ability to engage in primary study of techniques, and the capacity to contextualize an artwork within history. Quite simply: AI cannot reason why artworks look the way they do. Her thesis that AI is not suited for a humanistic pursuit of art history comes through strongly, but it could have been supplemented by further information in the form of more case studies.
Ok... we might be safe for now.
