Why Ayoung Kim's AI art divides the public on what art actually is
An artist used AI to critique gig labour, but viewers rejected it as AI replacing human creativity.
The National Gallery of Victoria is exhibiting Ayoung Kim's video showing delivery drivers controlled and monitored by AI in dystopian Seoul. The work uses generative AI, CGI and live footage.
When Reddit users saw the promotional poster, they attacked the use of generative AI. Reddit users didn't tell apart two things: art that uses AI as a tool and AI replacing artists.
But Kim's work actually critiques the system they objected to. Media theorist Joanna Zylinska separates two kinds of AI art.
Critical AI art reveals how technology affects labour. 'AI slop' just celebrates visual spectacle.
As AI spreads into creative fields, one question grows sharper: can artistic experiments with AI help us understand the systems reshaping our work?
- National Gallery of Victoria
- Exhibition venue
- Delivery Dancer's Arc: Inverse
- Work title
- 2024
- Year created
- Joanna Zylinska
- Theorist cited
Why it mattersIf AI starts replacing creative labour, this question matters. Whether artists can use it to critique the technology or just celebrate it shapes what we understand about AI.
AustraliaThe NGV's decision to feature AI-made art raises questions Australian artists, galleries and workers must now answer about AI's role in their fields.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 5 h ago
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