>Self expression is not only inherent in art, it’s essential. That idea is only about 200 years old and strongly Western. The vast majority of cultures saw no

>Self expression is not only inherent in art, it’s essential. That idea is only about 200 years old and strongly Western. The vast majority of cultures saw no difference between "art" and craft, regarding pictures and sculptures as simply decorative objects, of the same basic cultural standing as pottery or textiles. Our understanding of "art" was fundamentally transformed by the development of photography and mass-manufacturing. Anyone with a glib answer to questions about the cultural meaning of AI-generated art really needs to familiarise themselves with the thinking of William Morris and Yanagi Sōetsu, because this isn't the first time we've had this argument.