It seems like artificial intelligence (AI) has become the biggest trend worldwide. This is not surprising, given how much AI has changed the tech landscape, affecting everything from the labor market to the way we perform daily tasks. As an author, I must admit that I am most interested in the ways AI has influenced the realms of art and literature. These spheres have arguably seen the most media attention in recent years in light of the AI Revolution.

While I’ve seen many authors and artists express fear over how AI will take over their jobs as creators, I have to say, based on what has come out so far, I am not as worried as they are. Sure, AI platforms such as Chat GPT and MidJourney can produce high-quality content faster and more efficiently than human creators can, but is it really superior to what human artists can come up with? I would argue that it’s not superior, for it comes down to three simple truths about what makes human art what it is, and it all has to do with what I call the Divine Spark.

1. Human art is inspired.

Unlike AI-generated content, human art is the result of inspiration and thought. Humans tend to experience the world around them, which causes the mind to generate wave after wave of ideas that permeate our minds every second of every day. For artists, some of those experiences produce ideas known as inspirations that motivate them to create something truly unique and beautiful, sometimes even compelling them to be innovative in order for them to turn their ideas into something more tangible, such as a painting or a novel.

An AI Generator is never truly inspired when it creates content. It receives a written prompt from a human user, which tells it to use its programming to conceive artwork that is based on what it has learned about the medium from other artists’ work on the internet. The Final results are always a derivative of what has already been produced, never being truly unique in the way that a human artist can produce when they are given the freedom to think outside the box.

2. Human art is intentional

Of course, inspiration can only take an artist so far. In the realm of fiction writing, it’s been said that writing a great novel is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. As an author who’s written several novels, I can attest that this is true. Real art, no matter what medium it is, is an act of sheer will that requires the artist to put forth effort to create something truly unique. It is what is known as creating with intention, which is something AI can never do.

AI can, without a doubt, produce content with great ease, spewing out great mosaics and epic poems in a matter of seconds that seem wholly original on the surface. However, when you look at the content more closely, you can see that the work is largely a carbon copy of existing works from other artists made to look unique through minor cosmetic changes. AI has no idea how to be original, for it doesn’t know how to create with intention like a real artist does. For example, my novels may follow a structure similar to that of classical hero’s journeys that have been written in the past. Still, the ways in which it explores philosophical questions surrounding the meaning of life means that it was written with real intent, for no artist, human or computer, has ever tried to write a story like this as far as I am aware.

3. Human art is Illuminating

Above all other truths mentioned so far, human art is all about illuminating the human condition, giving the viewer/reader greater insight into what makes life so meaningful and how we can maximize our experiences while we are still alive and breathing. While there have been many works of art created over the centuries to tackle subjects such as growing up, relationships, religion, suffering, exploration, and even death (just to name a few), each artist’s own unique experiences help them to touch on these topics in ways that make their art unique, giving us a whole new perspective on the things that matter most to us.

AI-generated content simply has no ability to illuminate us on the human condition. You give an AI generator a text prompt, and it generates dozens of images that have no real intention behind them. If there’s no intention, then there is no knowledge to be gained, and if there is no knowledge to be gained, then the content is pointless. AI can generate some beautiful images, but without intent, those images are as soulless as the machines that created them, and real art is anything but soulless.

Conclusion: What is the divine spark

Now, you may be wondering what any of this has to do with what I mentioned earlier about the divine spark. Well, but simply, it has to do with the fact that humans were created in the image of God, and, like God, we were born to be creators. The divine spark is our innate desire to be like our Father in Heaven and produce many wondrous things. We are inspired to create because the divine spark is what fuels inspiration. We intend to create because the divine sparks make our creations intentional. Finally, we illuminate others with our art because the divine spark illuminates the world around us, giving us a greater vision of the universe as we seek to evolve into the divine beings we know we can become.

So, to conclude, I want to make it clear that while AI can never take the place of human artists, that’s not to say such technology can’t help us fulfill our divine potential. Like any other tool that was developed to help us create everything from structures to products, AI can be a valuable instrument in helping us create artistic masterpieces that can stand the test of time. While it might take another blog post to explore all the ways that AI can help humans create their own unique art, it suffices me to say, for now, that we have more opportunities available to us because of the AI evolution than we've ever had at any other time in human history. We just need to be proactive enough to study the technology and see for ourselves just how we can use it to fulfill our divine potential as artists.