AI and the creative Process

Here is my attempt at explaining the use of AI in the creative process. I feel this is important to explain because as the owner of Mougee Star, the use of AI affects us in multiple ways.  It may be a bit long because I find this subject fascinating and have given it much thought.  I ask that you keep an open mind while reading this.  You may see Ai in a different light than you previously did.

The Rise of AI in Art: A New Era of Creativity

As someone who has been an artist for many years (you can see my work at mitchsilver.com), I’ve always had a deep and personal connection to the creative process. Like many artists, I’ve sometimes felt uneasy about others using or reinterpreting my work. But in truth, artists have always borrowed from one another. Picasso famously said, “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” While I may not be that cynical, I do acknowledge that originality is a complex and often blurry concept. I still remember seeing a piece of graffiti as a kid that inspired my love of street art—it was transformative, and I don’t even know who created it.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing the creative landscape, offering new tools, expanding possibilities, and challenging traditional ideas of art. It’s not about replacing artists but expanding what art can be. The reality is: someone with no formal training can now generate visually compelling images in seconds using AI—results that might take years for a traditional artist to achieve. Whether we like it or not, this is the world we live in.

At its core, AI isn’t doing anything completely new. It uses machine learning algorithms trained on huge datasets of existing images and styles to remix, blend, and reimagine. In that sense, it’s doing what artists have always done: drawing from what’s come before to create something new. AI simply does it faster and on a far larger scale. “Originality” is a concept that is very murky in the world of art. It is by no means unique to these times.  Here’s a quote (my last one, I promise) from Mark Twain: “There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope.” 

There are many issues and problems with AI.  One common concern is that AI removes creativity from the equation. But I see it differently. If two artists collaborate, is their work less creative? What if 5 or 10 artists contribute? What if we had access to the insights of millions of artists throughout history? To me, AI feels like that kind of collaborator—one that can inspire, surprise, and even challenge us. Many artists today start not with a blank canvas, but with an AI-generated idea they refine or reinterpret. Writers are doing this with prose, musicians with melody. It’s not about replacing creativity—it’s about fueling it.

Still, there are real and important concerns. The use of copyrighted material in training datasets is a valid ethical issue. Many artists are understandably upset about their work being used without credit or compensation. This raises essential questions about transparency, ownership, and consent. I have no doubt that many pieces of my art have been catalogued in AI databases without me even knowing.  And I’ve got mixed feelings about it.  

Despite these challenges, AI-generated art is gaining legitimacy. It’s being shown in galleries, used in design studios, and even celebrated in art competitions. Some artists are creating “meta-art” that uses AI to explore the very idea of machine creativity and authorship.

Which brings me to Mougee. In our world of vibrant, flow-friendly design, the question comes up: do we use AI? The answer is: sometimes. We work with several artists, including myself. Some of us use AI as a tool—whether for early concepts, recoloring, or layout experiments. Others do everything by hand and then digitize it. But here’s the thing: even Photoshop now includes AI features. If you ask Photoshop to generate a galaxy background for your piece, is that cheating? Cheating who, or what?.

I’ve always believed that trying to define what is and isn’t art is a fool’s errand. Whether it’s brush on canvas or pixel on screen, art is a moving target—it can be about the process, the product, the emotion, the reaction, or something entirely unexpected.

Let me give you a real-world example. A popular festival artist I know designs compositions using AI, then painstakingly paints them by hand onto canvas. Is that not art? Of course it is.

So what about our art contests? Should we ban AI? Trying to would be like trying to put toothpaste back in the tube. It’s also impossible to detect when and how it was used. Was AI involved in the concept phase? Was it used to modify an existing work? Or simply to map it to an eight-point star shape? We can’t know—and more importantly, how in the world could we police that?

What matters is the result. The art people are creating—with or without AI—is powerful, beautiful, and valid.

I’ve seen this cycle before. I remember when photography meant knowing how to expose light-sensitive paper in a darkroom (plus about 20 other steps). Then came digital photography, and many traditionalists called it fake or lazy. Now, no one questions digital photography’s place as a valid art form.

The same thing happened with drawing tablets, Photoshop, going far back even premixed paints were a huge controversy during the Renaissance. Each new tool sparked outrage and resistance—but eventually found its place. AI is just the next step in that long, evolving collaboration between artists and technology.

From stone tools to styluses, from darkrooms to diffusion models, art has always adapted. AI doesn’t diminish the artist—it challenges us to redefine what being an artist means. And personally, while I get that there are real concerns and issues raised by the use of AI, and these are important issues that should be considered and discussed. I myself accept the use of AI in art without judgement.  But the bigger issue is that it is here to stay, and I believe it will be as acceptable as digital photography in the near future.

Mitch