Deep down

Despite the tone of the AI creation discussion, sometimes I think we’re losing focus on the core of the real issue. I’ll keep saying AI is a tool, whether it comes to consciousness or not, like an Isaac Asimov dystopia. I truly believe we let the flashes and shining images—or videos generated through AI—blind us to what really matters to be analyzed: not the astonishing prompting results, but the concept they enclose.

What’s a pipe? Something we see, something we use to smoke, something we touch, or something we think it is? Whatever the answer, the deep layer resides in semiotics, and in the statement we declare through it. AI fantasy has driven a lot of artists and producers to get lost in a cosmetic labyrinth without exit. Not because they are bad at what they do—on the contrary, their work is spotless—but unfortunately, it lacks a strong concept. They have let the alchemy of AI generation fade the essence of the story, even if the story consists of senselessness.

David Lynch, It was Linda who... , 2021

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen several artists and video producers making great creations with serious aesthetic and conceptual vision. Nevertheless, something is missing. Surrealism has become more real, but it still feels fake. That also happens in the analog world, but as I see it, AI art hasn’t yet achieved the rupture point where concept stands above production, and it’s not only production. Call it monsters, fashion, fights, cyberpunk postapocalyptic machines or creatures, ads, choreographies with pop songs and lyrics, gummy kawaii characters, or a 3.0 bestiary. The list is long.

Then I turn my gaze back to the depths of the liquid concrete pool films. I return to monsters like David Lynch’s work, and remember that deep down, in all expressions of art, even nonsense can become a strong concept—always under one condition: intention.

I’m not here to judge, only to set my senseless perspective.