When AI Can Create, Why Do We Still Make Art?
Updated: Sep 29
W.H. Auden called art a "rite of worship," something instinctive rather than learned. Maybe that is the reason why, in Aboriginal Australian languages, there's no direct equivalent for the word "art". To Aboriginal Australian people, art is a way of being and how they live their lives. It is woven into storytelling, traditions, and daily existence.
The impulse to create is deeply human. Poets often describe writing as something that just happens—an unfiltered response to emotion or experience. Malcolm Ross described art as an expressive energy that moves through us, responding to and shaping the rhythm of life. Whether it's painting, writing, or making music, creating itself feels satisfying. But somewhere along the way, many of us lose that connection. As the society grows and evolve, humans becomes increasingly focused on efficiency and productivity. Art becomes an afterthought, something "extra. What was once natural starts to feel unfamiliar, like a language we've forgotten how to speak.
The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. — Aristotle
Today, AI is becoming increasingly capable at many of the things humans have worked hard to achieve. It is no longer news that machines can take on creative roles. They can generate images, write poetry and compose music. If AI is already this capable, what can we imagine for the future? What remains uniquely ours? What can our children aspire to be or achieve?
If we had to name one fundamental difference between machines and us, it would be lived experience. AI's creativity is built from what already exists and what is accessible to it. It may be able to produce highly polished answers, but it cannot experience the world through personal struggles, emotions or human relationships.
As humans, we create from something raw. Our experiences—messy, unpredictable and deeply felt—are our own. Many people think creativity means thinking outside the box. But in my view, it is something deeper: engaging with life in a way that is personal, real and continually changing.
My art courses are designed with this motivation in mind: to nurture what is deeply human in children and help prepare them for a world increasingly shaped by AI. Through art, we encourage an open-minded exploration of the world as well as an exploration of the self. Children have the freedom to create based on how an artist, story, topic or artwork introduced in class inspires them. From there, they connect that inspiration to their own interests and life experiences. That’s what I believe art should be: personal, open-ended and alive.
If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing. Marc Chagall
Suyuan Chen, 9 years old, marker pen drawing on paper, 2023
Jolin, 6 years old, marker pen drawing on paper, 2023
Elsa, mark pen and crayon on paper , 2022
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