The Lettuce Wins: how online memes may end up exposing irreducible shortcomings in AI art.

Abstract

This essay proposes a dynamic analysis of two recent occurrences entailing cultural manifestations of digital media and the ways they signal broader challenges faced by the creative act. Both occurrences have made mainstream media headlines, indicating and triggering significant engagement and resonance. We argue that, despite being factually unrelated, these two occurrences mirror a current choice between two historically prevailing narratives in the arts: the singularity paradigm and rituals of engagement. We further posit that a choice between these two narratives may dictate a prevailing ascertainment of the roles of art among the conundrums of the present digital era.