Mind ascribed to AI and the appreciation of AI-generated art

Abstract

Creative artificial intelligence (AI) has received a lot of attention in recent years. Artworks that are introduced to be generated by AI (rather than a human artist) are, however, often evaluated negatively. Integrating extant research, we suggest that AI is ascribed less mind (i.e. agency and experience) which is responsible for this effect. In two experiments (N = 176 and N = 381) we observed negative indirect effects of artist information (AI vs human artist) on the appreciation of visual artworks. The AI is consistently ascribed less agency and less experience than a human artist. Higher levels of experience and agency ascribed to an artist are, in turn, associated with higher appreciation of a piece of art. In both experiments the total effect of artist information on appreciation was not significant. Artist information did not predict whether the artwork deviated positively from viewers’ expectations developed before the actual artwork was encountered.