How AI Is shaping the new visual language of contemporary art

Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a mimic of human artists; it's becoming a creative force in its own right. Today, we’ll explore how this transformation happened and how AI aesthetics are influencing the visual language of our time.

Here in the fall of 2025, we can confidently state that machines are not just imitating human styles but are creating their own aesthetics, forging a new visual language. This language combines the logic of data with human imagination, all while changing the very concept of creativity.

The Beginning: from copying to creating

When neural networks first emerged, they primarily copied what humans had already created, learning to paint in the style of Van Gogh, Rembrandt, or Picasso. Many of us remember the mobile apps that turned user photos into paintings by great masters. This was done using Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs). These models work by pitting two neural networks against each other: one generates an image, and the other tries to determine if it's "real" or fake. This process gradually teaches the model to create increasingly realistic images. That was the first step, and it was followed by the second step that can be called the invention of the new.

This step is linked to the emergence of Creative Adversarial Networks (CANs), which don’t just replicate a style but intentionally deviate from standard rules to create something unexpected. In fact, scientists from Rutgers University have even shown that viewers sometimes prefer AI-generated art to human-made art, finding it more original.

So, while AI used to be a skilled imitator, it has now become a kind of experimental artist.

The new visual language

The rise of these technologies has naturally impacted art, ending humanity's monopoly on this aspect of life. Machines see the world and combine its elements differently than people do, giving rise to new visual genres and styles. Many of these have already become well-defined.

Dreamcore and machine surrealism

Many AI artworks resemble dreams: familiar objects are connected in impossible combinations - houses floating in the sky, faces turning into clouds. This aesthetic, known as dreamcore, has become a symbol of the new machine imagination. In this sense, AI acts as an ideological successor to the surrealists, creating a variety of abstract and unsettling images by analyzing its own associations formed during training on massive datasets.

Hyperrealism and fractal patterns

AI loves detail. It creates images with incredible precision because the technology can literally copy elements with photographic accuracy - something even the most experienced human artist can't achieve.

Fractal patterns are repeating structures. Neural networks can now do more than just build strict mathematical fractals; they can blend them with different artistic styles, creating unexpected visual experiments. Essentially, fractals have become part of the avant-garde, helping artists discover new forms and compositions.

Glitch art

Algorithm errors - distortions, noise, and pixels - have become a common artistic technique in both images and videos. This is an old technique that artists used before AI to create the effect of a fragile digital world. Neural networks have elevated glitch art by adding a new layer of meaning that reflects the growing encroachment of the digital world into the real one.

How the сreative process рas changed

Interestingly, the emergence of AI has also changed the creative process itself.

The artist becomes a director

When an artist uses AI, their main tool isn’t a paintbrush, it's a prompt. This prompt makes them a director who explains to their actor (the AI) what to depict.

For example: "A summer evening in the style of Impressionism, golden light, reflections on the water, a misty atmosphere." An AI like Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, or Kandinsky transforms this text into an image. If the result isn’t right, they make another "take" by refining the prompt until the artist is satisfied.

Ethical questions and the value of art in the age of algorithms

While AI brings a lot of new things to art, it also raises questions. Who should be considered the author of the work? The human or the machine? If an AI creates a painting but the idea belongs to an artist, who is the true author?

The law doesn’t have a clear answer yet, but in reality, AI-generated works can already compete with those of human artists, creating problems related to copyright and fairness.

But ethical issues with AI in art aren’t limited to authorship. For example, AI can be biased. An AI can reflect the biases of the data it was trained on. For instance, by more often portraying men as leaders and women as objects. In addition, some models have been trained on copyrighted works without permission.

The co-creation of humans and technology

We believe that AI doesn't replace human creativity - it enhances it by combining technology and creativity to allow users to create faster, bolder, and more interestingly. This synergy works with a simple algorithm:

1. The human provides the idea, a concept, an emotion, a task.

2. The AI helps visualize by offering options and revealing unexpected forms.

3. The human selects and guides, adding their own taste, context, and meaning.

4. The result is art, born from the dialogue between humans and machines.

It's important to remember that AI doesn't take away a person's ability to createб it expands it. Now, the artist and the machine work together: the human creates the concept, and the AI helps bring it to life visually, often surprising even the author.