Art, design, music, and all creative fields share one undeniable trait: they are inherently influenced by the past. Throughout history, every artist, designer, and musician has drawn inspiration from those who came before them. We see this in architecture influenced by past giants, in painters echoing techniques from earlier masters, and in music where bands channel the sounds of their predecessors. It’s a cycle as old as creativity itself.

The early days of graphic design offer a perfect example. If a designer wanted to create a logo, they would often consult books full of previously created logos for inspiration. They didn’t directly copy these designs, but they certainly borrowed elements, styles, and concepts to create something new that still carried the imprint of what had come before. This act of learning, referencing, and evolving is central to how creativity works. The same process plays out in music when a band like Oasis openly admits to drawing from The Beatles—putting their own spin on an influence that shaped them.

AI art is, at its core, built on this same principle. The difference is that instead of referencing a few books or a limited number of influences, AI draws from an incomprehensibly vast database of artistic works. It synthesizes these influences at incredible speeds, learning from thousands of sources to create something that resonates with the viewer. Yet, the underlying process is strikingly similar to how human artists operate: studying, absorbing, and transforming what has come before.

So why, then, does AI art receive such backlash? The most common criticism is that it “rips everyone off,” borrowing too heavily from the original creators without their permission. Critics argue that AI art crosses the line into plagiarism, claiming that it lacks the soul or authenticity of human creativity. But is this criticism entirely fair?

To answer this, let’s first acknowledge that human creativity has always involved a degree of “borrowing.” Pablo Picasso famously said, “Good artists copy; great artists steal.” What he meant was that great artists take inspiration from existing works and transform it into something distinctly their own. They make it unrecognizable from its original source by infusing it with their unique vision and style. AI art, in its best form, does precisely that. It creates pieces that, while influenced by existing works, are not direct copies or overly similar reproductions. They blend elements of past masterpieces into entirely new compositions, much like any skilled human artist would.

The crucial distinction lies in whether AI-generated pieces are mere reproductions or genuinely transformative creations. Copyright law is meant to protect against direct copying, where a work is reproduced in a way that closely mimics the original, causing economic harm to its creator. However, AI art is typically not engaged in this kind of blatant duplication. Instead, it draws from an array of influences to create something that may be reminiscent of past works but is fundamentally a new creation.