·
Why do we point fingers at AI?
Have you ever finished a design project or artwork and wondered if it was truly original? Or felt your work was just a reassembly of all the inspirations you’ve collected over the years? Trust me, you’re not alone.
Whose Idea Is It Anyway?
Many philosophers argue that nothing is created entirely from scratch. Even the most original ideas spring from prior knowledge, influences, or reactions to existing concepts. True “ex nihilo” originality is rare, if it exists at all. What makes anything “new” and yours — has intrigued philosophers and creatives for ages. And in today’s world, we’ve added a new character to the mix: artificial intelligence (AI).
It is often argued that AI is a “mash-up” of clichés. It made me think how both humans, and now AI, create new works from existing parts.
The Ancient Tale of Originality
Consider The Ship of Theseus. Athenians preserved their hero’s ship by replacing each decaying plank, until every original piece had been swapped out. The question that emerged: Was it still the same ship? This mirrors our modern questions about creative originality in design and art. When we create something new by building upon existing design movements and artistic influences, at what point does it become original?
Human Creative Process
We spend years developing our craft — studying composition, colour theory, typography, art history and so on. Our creativity emerges from a lifetime of experiences, trends, and cultural influences. We form new connections, interpret briefs through our personal lens, and embed intentional meaning in our work. Even the creations we feel are original, in many ways, builds upon their predecessors and are evolutions of everything we’ve absorbed.
Take any celebrated designer or artist for example, Paul Rand’s iconic logos drew inspiration from Modernist principles, Paula Scher’s typographic work was influenced by Russian Constructivism, Shakespeare borrowed plots from historical accounts and folk tales and even Van Gogh was influenced by Japanese prints.
We must understand that creativity is not born in isolation, it is a result of our experiences and influences, of what we consciously or sub-consciously choose to like or dislike. By accepting this we not only acknowledge the inspiration behind our work but also honour the legacy of those who came before us. Further, we invite others to appreciate our influence, and if it holds value for them, take inspiration from us.
AI Creative Process
Think of AI’s creative process like a magical designer who has studied millions of artworks and designs. Just as designers learn to recognise successful composition and colour relationships, AI learns patterns from existing visual works. But instead of intuition and experience, it uses mathematical relationships.
Before AI can create anything, it needs to learn, AI models gulp vast libraries of text or images, noting the statistical relationships between elements. It analyses millions of existing works, learning not just what elements look like, but how they relate to each other spatially and stylistically. Rather than truly “understanding,” AI finds correlations — how often words or shapes appear together.
What we need to understand is How AI Creates Art?
AI uses large datasets and pattern recognition to produce outputs. Common techniques include:
Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs): A Generator creates images that a Discriminator tries to classify as fake or real, iteratively improving the Generator’s outputs.
Variational Auto encoders (VAEs): These compress and reconstruct images, generating new samples from a latent space.
Diffusion Models (e.g., Stable Diffusion): Transform random noise into coherent images, guided by learned patterns.
Neural Style Transfer: Apply the style of one image to the content of another, merging distinct visual features.
When you prompt it with “a sunset over mountains in the style of woodblock prints,” the AI doesn’t just search for similar images. Instead, it uses its learned patterns to create something new that matches your description.
Where Do We Draw the Line?
Both humans and AI build new creations from what they’ve learned. Both can combine elements in ways that appear novel. The key difference lies not in the method of creation, but in understanding. Humans bring design thinking, problem-solving intent, and lived experience to their work. We create through a lens of purpose and user needs.
AI Follows predefined tasks and parameters set by humans. It runs algorithms; has no emotional states or subjective awareness. Humans create through feedback and self-reflection. Rearranging or re-contextualising existing elements can yield entirely different interpretations.
Is it a copy or not?
The Ship of Theseus paradox ultimately teaches us that identity and originality aren’t binary concepts. We must recognise that both human and AI continually borrow, refine, and replace aspects of the ideas, styles, and data they have encountered. The key distinction isn’t in the method of creation — both humans and AI build on what came before. Rather, it lies in the intentional problem-solving and conscious decision-making behind the creation.
In the end, what matters isn’t whether something is “original” in the purest sense, but whether it advances our visual language, solves real problems, and contributes meaningfully to our cultural dialogue. As we move forward, the focus should shift from defending human creativity against AI to exploring how this powerful combination can help us create more thoughtful, innovative, and impactful work.
After all, perhaps true originality lies not in creating something from nothing, but in finding new ways to combine, transform, and reimagine what exists — whether through human insight, artificial intelligence, or the exciting space where both intersect.