When photography first appeared in the 1800s, it shocked the art world.
Back then, painters had spent centuries trying to capture the world as realistically as possible. Artists like Rembrandt, Michelangelo, and Da Vinci were masters at painting people, landscapes, and scenes so lifelike that they seemed almost real. But then came the camera, suddenly, anyone could capture a realistic image with just the push of a button.
At first, many people dismissed photography as a novelty or a threat. It wasn’t “real art,” they said. After all, where was the skill in pointing a device and clicking? But over time, as more people began to experiment with the camera, it became clear that photography wasn’t just a copy machine, it was a new creative tool. Photographers began to explore lighting, framing, timing, emotion. The results could be just as moving and meaningful as a painting.
Now, we’re facing a similar moment with Artificial Intelligence.
New AI tools like Midjourney (which creates images from text prompts) and Udio (which can generate music) are making people ask: Is this really art? If a computer is doing most of the work, does that still count as creativity?
It’s a fair question. But history might help us find the answer.
Let’s go back to what happened after photography took off. Instead of making painters obsolete, it actually freed them. Since cameras could now handle realism, painters began exploring new directions. They stopped trying to imitate real life and started experimenting with color, emotion, and abstraction. That shift led to new art movements, Impressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, led by names like Van Gogh, Picasso, and Dali.
These artists weren’t worried about competing with cameras. Instead, they asked: What can painting do that photography can’t?
Something similar happened in music. Music has always been built on structure, scales, chords, time signatures, and so on. A piano only has 88 keys. There are only so many notes. But within those limits, musicians have created endless variety. Classical composers, jazz legends, rock icons, and electronic producers all use the same basic building blocks, yet they come up with totally different sounds.
The lesson? It’s not about the tool, it’s about how you use it.
Now, let’s talk about AI. These new tools work by recognizing patterns. You type in a phrase, say, “a dog surfing a wave at sunset”, and the AI creates an image. Or you hum a tune, and it turns it into a full song. It feels magical, even a little spooky. But here’s the thing: these tools still need us.
They need our ideas, our prompts, our direction. The person using the AI still chooses what to create, just like a photographer decides where to aim the camera or a musician chooses what notes to play.
In fact, “prompting”, the process of writing the right input to get the output you want, has started to feel like an art form of its own. Anyone can write a basic prompt, but to get something truly stunning, you have to think carefully about what you want, how you describe it, and what story you’re trying to tell. That takes vision. That takes creativity.
And that brings us back to the core idea: creativity isn’t about the tools. It’s about the person behind them.
Think of AI like a piano. No one says a piano makes music on its own. You still need someone to play it. Sure, AI can do some things automatically, but the most interesting, thoughtful, and emotional work still comes from human input.
Of course, there’s still a lot to figure out, questions about copyright, originality, and ethics. Just like early photographers had to figure out what their new tool meant for art and culture, we’re now working through those same issues with AI.
But here’s what we can learn from the past: every time a new tool comes along, it opens new doors. At first, people resist it. They say, “That’s cheating,” or “That’s not real art.” But over time, artists embrace the tool, stretch its limits, and show the world something it’s never seen before.
AI isn’t here to replace human creativity. It’s here to partner with it.
Some of the most exciting work today comes from artists who use AI not as a shortcut, but as a collaborator. They mix their own ideas with the possibilities of the machine to create something fresh and unexpected. The AI might generate the first draft, but the artist refines it, curates it, shapes it, just like a photographer developing a photo or a musician remixing a track.
So, is AI art “real” art?
If it makes you think, feel, or see the world differently, then yes, it is. Just like photography became art in its own time, AI art will find its place too. And just like music never ran out of ideas despite its fixed notes, AI won’t limit creativity, it will expand it.
We’ve been here before. We’ll figure it out again.
Dominic “Doc” Ligot is one of the leading voices in AI in the Philippines. Doc has been extensively cited in local and global media outlets including The Economist, South China Morning Post, Washington Post, and Agence France Presse. His award-winning work has been recognized and published by prestigious organizations such as NASA, Data.org, Digital Public Goods Alliance, the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Health Organization (WHO), and UNICEF.
If you need guidance or training in maximizing AI for your career or business, reach out to Doc via https://docligot.com.
