Tao Feng

Artificial intelligence (AI) art is the product of AI technology applied to art. In terms of technical application, AI art has two methods: symbolism and connectivism. In terms of the human-machine system, there are three levels: human using machine, human guiding machine and human-machine separation. AI art is a special form, existing between natural beauty and human art: AI art, first of all, is not a natural aesthetic object, given that it is the product of artefacts. Its appreciation is mixed with interests, and its artistic generation is a kind of “purposeful non-purposefulness.” Secondly, AI art is not equal to traditional human art, because AI has no intentionality or consciousness. Thirdly, AI participates in the construction of artistic logic and breaks the boundary of traditional art. AI can be regarded as an “agent” in art generation, and together with people constitute the “actor network” of art. The processes of generation, identification and appreciation of AI art include the judgment of true and false. AI art reflects the forced integration of intelligent technology into art, an attempt to rid of contingency, dialectics, and negativity of art. But what we need is the real harmonisation of art and technology. People should use aesthetic reason to guide AI technology.

Time is a necessary element in understanding AI art. Firstly, time reveals the historical process by which art-theoretical predicates move from the unmarked to the marked, which can thus be utilized as a defense for arguing the legitimacy of AI art as art. Furthermore, AI art should be seen as a “new” art that is temporally ahead of the descriptive forms of art theory. Secondly, time provides a unique interpretation of AI artworks’ characteristics and aesthetic experience. The absence of experience, the de-depth of AI artworks, and the “short experience/short memory” aesthetic mode of the masses are closely linked to the scarcity of time in an age of acceleration. Finally, time reflects the loss of “aura” and the new end of art that AI art may bring about. Time provides a defense and explanation of AI art, as well as a perspective for reflecting on the development of art in contemporary times.

As a real-life application of a “virtual human,” virtual anchors refer to the application of virtual reality technology in communication hosting to create virtual images that simulate human anchors. The pursuit of a virtual human image originates from philosophy, art, and biotechnology. Virtual anchors are also required to undertake the function of communication and hosting. First, by sorting out the development process of virtual anchors, we find that the development of a virtual anchor is based on the needs of technological development and the purpose of capital profit. Second, the simulation technology of a virtual anchor has five dimensions, such as appearance, individuality, and autonomy, and two levels: internal and external. This simulation technology has reached the intelligent simulation stage. Finally, the technology involved in virtual anchors will lead to a trust crisis. That is, the people's body-mind relation and cognitive trust will be broken under the mediation of data. Virtual technology will recreate a false aura, that is, false space-time and fake original works, which is the intelligent falsehood required by the new cultural industry.

The spatial consciousness of the ancients is reflected in the character formation, structure, and writing of the oracle bones. Piaget’s genetic epistemology, Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy of body, and cognitive linguistics suggest that human spatial awareness is derived from the formation of a spatial awareness of the body, and evidence for this can be found in the body-related characters in the oracle bones. As a combination of symbols and images, the oracle bones are themselves a spatial metaphor that can compensate for the lack of symbolic language and serve as a reference for the aesthetic language advocated by Adorno.