How artificial intelligence is about to trigger an art revolution (that could be bigger than Impressionism)

Artists are up in arms with Google for using their art to train AI. But from the tensions and disputes a new artistic movement may well emerge, writes Anthony Cuthbertson

A photo of pioneering Impressionist Claude Monet in his famous gardens in Giverny, France, circa 1917 (Wikimedia Commons)

In 1872, Claude Monet sat down at his easel in Le Havre and painted what he would later call Impression, Sunrise. Critics initially mocked the painting for its visible brushstrokes and seemingly unfinished composition, but it birthed a movement that would revolutionise art.

Impressionism came in response to the emergence of photography, which offered the promise of replicating landscapes and portraits in far more realistic detail than even the most masterful painter. Now, 150 years later, artists are once again confronted by a new technology that is disrupting not just painting, but every artistic field.

Artificial intelligence is remarkable at generating everything from songs to videos at a prolific rate, and it is already proving to be both inspiring and infuriating for artists. This week, a group of photographers, cartoonists and other visual artists launched legal action against Google for allegedly using their work to train its AI image generator “without consent, credit, or compensation”. It is the latest of dozens of similar lawsuits.