It’s important to create original and thoughtful art (not necessarily unique) as an antidote to the over-consumption and over-creation of content for content’s sake. Especially now, as companies are creating huge amounts of unoriginal and poor-quality content with the use of AI, social media platforms prioritise content that quickly evokes a reaction and is easily consumed to keep viewers on their platform rather than content that promotes connection. This results in large amounts of low-quality short-form content that overstimulates and leaves people with an insatiable desire for more and an inability to recall what they have consumed.
Art has many definitions. I will be working with the definition of ‘Art’ as the individual process or expression of human skill or imagination to create thoughtful works that are delivered in earnest. This can be juxtaposed against ‘Craft,’ which I see as a repetitive process that requires human skill but does not require imagination, as the techniques and motifs are often copied from one craftsperson to another. Additionally, the techniques and motifs are within the public domain—they belong to a culture rather than an individual.
AI Content
We can compare both Art and Craft against AI content, which I believe can only be divided into ‘Craft’ and ‘Filler.’ AI content is definitely not art as the process is not individual or original; the data from which AI content comes is scraped from information across the internet. AI content creation, in some cases, could be seen as a craft—it is repetitive, it also comes from information shared on the public internet (but the information it scrapes is often not in the public domain, which raises many issues), and often creating good-quality AI content takes some human skill or knowledge to give it the correct prompts. The problem arises when AI content is created in bulk without human intervention and oversight; this causes issues relating to the validity of the information, the quality of the information, and the source of the information. This type of AI content creation is neither Art nor Craft; it is Filler. It is mass-produced, unoriginal, and poor-quality content that fills the media we consume, not to inform, entertain, or deliver value. This AI content has the sole purpose of reminding the audience that the company exists.
While reminding your audience of your existence is not inherently a problem, it takes a toll on the audience when that reminder is not giving the audience anything of value and huge volumes of companies are taking the same approach to staying front of mind with their customers and potential customers. You see this across the internet in the form of near-identical listicle-style blogs from ‘How-to’ searches; you see this on companies’ and individuals’ X feeds, on LinkedIn, and Facebook in the form of snippets discussing anything vaguely related to their field and often of little value to the audience.
Human-Made Content
Unlike AI content, content created by humans can be divided into ‘Art’, ‘Craft’, and ‘Filler.’
All published art is content; however, not all published content is art. For content to be considered art, it must be made by a human, it must be original (not unique), it must utilise the creator’s mind, and it must be made in earnest.
Some published human-made content would be considered craft. In this category, I would count anything that is replicable by others without infringing on any copyrights. A common category of content that would fall under the realm of craft is things that trend. The format, while often created by an individual’s artistic expression, finds itself in the realm of cultural ownership due to its popularity and relevance. People (and companies) that recreate these trends with a level of pride in their work (aka craftsmanship) and their production and publication of that content adds to the shared culture of those engaging in specific communities. Whether that is a person with a large platform sharing a trending video format, or an individual with a small following deciding to share an image of their family, the culture and community they are a part of will inform the method they use to create and share that content—I consider this a craft.
The third type of content created by people is the Filler. Like ‘Filler’ content generated by AI, this content is not an individual artistic expression, nor a craft that adds to or takes inspiration from a culture or community. This Filler content is often created quickly, and like its AI counterpart, it is used by people to remain relevant and at the forefront of their audience’s mind without giving viewers any value in return.
The ‘Filler Content’
It’s my view that individuals and organisations should be opposed to the creation and publication of ‘Filler Content,’ whether AI-generated or created by humans. Content that does not seek to portray artistic endeavours or add to the broader community adds little to no value to the media we consume. Because of the ease of making ‘Filler Content,’ it is often produced at scale by individuals and groups. Additionally, the technologies used to create this content have a very low barrier to entry—making its creation numerous and widespread and often in competition for attention with other groups’ ‘Filler Content.’ Competition for attention between types of ‘Filler Content’ is now high, effectively discounting the impact groups or individuals would have had by mass-producing content in the past. I believe, if left to run its course, the amount of non-valuable information on the internet will become completely overwhelming.
The predominance of ‘Filler Content’ is seen across all media channels. Because if the vast amounts of it is becoming harder to find earnest and value-adding content. This type of content is likely welcomed by infinite-scroll social media platforms as there is always a mass production of content, plus, constantly coming across the loss of finding mostly ‘Filler Content’ can make the experience feel like a slot machine. Each piece of earnest/valuable content is a win, while encountering ‘Filler Content’ is like a loss. If we only experienced wins, we wouldn’t consume as much, but the hope of finding something valuable keeps us scrolling, even as we mostly encounter ‘Filler Content.’ Platforms generate more ad revenue from people being on the platforms longer, so the prevalence of ‘Filler Content’ is incentivised. This is why creating better content is not just preferable—it’s a moral imperative.
Creating Art as a Solution
This art doesn’t have to be unique—it just needs to be somewhat original. By originality in this context refers to individuals or groups using their own imagination to produce work reflective of their circumstances - this work can be inspired by others so it is not necessarily unique. Uniqueness refers to a work being one without comparison to other works.
Creating original art is needed as it counters the proliferation of low-quality ‘Filler Content’ which fails it’s audience as it’s only purpose is to be seen.
Additionally, with more art being published, we will have more high quality content that can be turned into crafted/trending content which will contribute culturally to it’s online community. This creates better content for everyone.
‘Filler Content’, whether generated by AI or humans distracts its audience and diminishes our capacity to engage with content that adds to community’s culture. The ease with which this content is produced and the incentives provided by social media platforms only exacerbate it’s prevalence.
To break this cycle, both individuals and organisations should prioritise the creation of original and thoughtful art. This does not mean striving for uniqueness at all costs, but rather focusing on the quality and intention of the content created.
Laura Mason is a Melbourne-based creative, working across illustration, graphic design, and visual art. Her work is often inspired by folk arts and crafts, incorporating whimsical yet familiar motifs drawn from industrial periods. As her work spans multiple related fields there is often overlap in technique between her works in graphic design, illustration, and visual arts.
Beyond her creative work, Laura is trained in copywriting and both digital and traditional marketing.
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