“There is a creative process behind all that”, art in the age of artificial intelligence

In Brognard, near Montbéliard (Doubs), an exhibition like no other is being held until the end of the week. Paintings, photos and drawings… everything is entirely created using artificial intelligence.

At first glance, you might think you're in a collection of a modern art museum. But the different works that we discover from this photographer from Brognard (Doubs) are all the result of one work: that of Thierry Voitot and computers. For this artist and artificial intelligence explorer, there are those who design, there are those who talk about it, and those, like him, who practice it. “I am the mechanic who puts his hands in the engine and in the grease” he emphasizes.

Photographer and amateur painter, a sort of “reflex” pushes him to question himself. “What augmented pencil could I have?”, he asks. He was helped by Pascal, his older brother, himself a designer of artificial intelligence, who immersed him in this technology. But for Thierryman remains at the center of the artistic process. “There is a creative process behind it all.”details the man who sometimes spent 100 hours describing precisely on the machine what he wanted. Between the style, the light, the emotion, the character and even the framing, nothing is left to chance. For him, AI is an artistic extension, like the camera, the potter's wheel, the brush and the painter's palette. A technology that will not make the arts disappear: “Everyone will continue to paint, take photos…”

An opinion shared by Olivier Hugoniot, photographer who only works with reality, who is hosting this exhibition. For him, accepting this exposure does not mean letting the wolf into the fold, since he has already been there for a very long time. “I have the feeling that digital technology has already changed our photographic habits and artificial intelligence is a second stage which will further change our habitshe adds before admitting that he was also impressed by the result of Thierry's images. I was amazed by the result because there are images that I would have liked to be able to create as a photographer.”

According to him, it is the result of a real artistic talent.

You don't make such images if you don't master the technique, if you don't have a keen enough artistic sense, and a phenomenal general knowledge.

Olivier Hugoniot, photographer

“In my opinion, these are the three elements that enable us to achieve beautiful things with beautiful tools in the artistic field..” He explains that artificial intelligence has understood all the codes of photography. Whether it is the depth of field, the placement of light sources, the emotions in the eyes… “There are people who describe artificial intelligence by saying that there are no possible emotions. Thierry proved to us that this was false. In the eyes of his models he has emotions and emotions that speak to us”, says the photographer.

In parallel with the exhibition, Thierry Voitot offers workshops to learn how to master technology. In addition to developing one's creativity, this learning is essential, according to him, to avoid being in the “non-learning” and be in use “of a kind of consumerism”. He illustrates this with young people who put their duty statements into an AI, without learning anything behind it.

Titouan Stiegler came to participate in one of these workshops. For three years, this young man has been practicing photography in his free time. What does he like the most? Capture landscapes and transcribe an emotion. If he uses artificial intelligence on a daily basis “to save time”, to answer the questions he asks himself, he has never resorted to retouching his shots. And he is clear: nothing will replace the photo.

What I like is the process of exploration behind it. Find the right time and the right place. These are experiences that we don't have through artificial intelligence.

Titouan Stiegler, amateur photographer

For the amateur photographer, we have no idea of ​​the work behind all these images. “Behind, there is work of reflection, with precise ideas to give, which must be reworked according to what we really have in our heads.” Artificial intelligence would then be a complementary tool to obtain results that are difficult to obtain in reality, but nothing will replace photography.