Emma Duester interviews artists in today’s China and finds increasing use of artificial intelligence not just as a tool but also as a creative muse.

The World Economic Forum (2022) published “the need to resolve issues around the responsible use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as it has become increasingly important for countries, citizens, and businesses over the last 8 years, with approximately 60 countries now having National AI Strategies and many have or are creating, policies which allow for responsible use of this technology.” At the same time, a survey recently conducted by Adobe (2018) showed that three-quarters of visual artists in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan would consider using AI as assistants, in areas such as image search, editing, and other “non-creative” tasks. This indicates a general acceptance of AI as a tool across the contemporary art sector globally.

However, new findings from research carried out at SJTU with 122 contemporary Chinese visual artists from across China show that 42% of contemporary visual artists (including painters, sculptors, mixed-media artists, and internet artists) started to use AI for the first time for their work in 2023 and they are now using AI as a communication partner and collaborator. This is far more than just being used as a tool for testing ideas or imputing questions. Instead, Chinese contemporary visual artists see the opportunities of AI to enhance their creativity, human capabilities, and efficiency of their work practices.

This article shares artists’ reflections on how they creatively use and “misuse” AI, their feelings about AI, and their thoughts about the benefits of AI for their work. In this article, we will see what goes on inside artists’ everyday working lives to see what happens behind the final artworks.

This perspective on AI is contrary to most existing discourse that takes a predominantly critical standpoint towards AI that raises concerns about copyright, morality, and ethics (Tajalli, 2021; Appel et al., 2023) and that AI jeopardizes creativity (Bisoyi, 2022; Nolan, 2022).

Research Overview

This research project interviewed 32 contemporary visual artists, including painters, video artists, multi-media artists, sculptors, new media artists, internet artists, and photographers. These were carried out between May 2023 and February 2024. The artists live and work in cities across China, including Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, and Xi’an. Five artists are currently living outside of China, including London, New York, Toronto, Zurich, or Amsterdam. They are aged between 27 and 59 years old and are trained professional visual artists, having graduated from an art school, academy, or university. We then surveyed professional artists from across China to find out when they started using AI, which AI software they are using, and their experiences of using AI. 90 have completed the survey so far, which began in February 2024.

Integration of Art and Technology in China

There have been rapid and vast changes in the art industry over the past five years. Culture and technology have been closely integrated in the cultural industries as a direct result of national digital development plans and digitization strategies. We can now see the outcomes of this culture policy and national policy clearly in digital artworks as well as artists’ entire working practices. This also means that work in the art sector overall is changing.

The creative industries, particularly the contemporary art sector, have been rapidly and radically combined with digital technology over the past 7 years. National policies for the development of digital technology into the contemporary art sector were introduced in 2016. In 2023, a national digitization strategy was outlined towards 2025 to promote the integration of new digital technologies into various industries, including the contemporary art sector with “the integration of art and technology” (Chinese Government, 2021). As a direct result of these policies, many artists are now creating digital artworks and using more digital processes. These methods are now preferred by many and have replaced the traditional artistic creation process. This means that AI is influencing artwork aesthetics and techniques and the working conditions of artists.

The Development and Integration of AI into the Art Industry

Due to a streamlined and mature digital infrastructure, AI has spread rapidly and is now being used in many creative industry sectors including art, music, and film. Policy efforts on digital transformation in China have been progressive and forward-thinking, clearly showing national investment in the creative industries and the digital cultural economy. This is reflected in the long-term national strategy for economic and national development (Montgomery and Keane, 2004).

The government began supporting the AI industry at the national level in 2016. For instance, the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016–2020) specified AI as key for achieving economic growth and the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021–2025) outlined a plan for continued state investment in AI. In 2017, the Government introduced a vision for the development of AI in the Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan (新一代人工智能发展规划) (NGAIDP). The Plan outlined the national strategy of using AI for socio-economic development and creating an AI industry that positions China as the world leader in AI by 2030, and to emerge as the global leader in defining standards for AI.

On 13 July 2023, the Chinese government published its finalized rules on generative artificial intelligence, the Interim Measures for the Management of Generative Artificial Intelligence Services (Chinese Government, 2023) which came into effect on 15 August 2023. The objective of the Interim Measures is to regulate generative AI, which is primarily designed to generate content and promote the use of AI for national economic development, ease of use, and to promote business and individuals’ innovation. This makes it one of the first countries to regulate the technology to promote its use.

Overview of Research Results

87.5% of artists interviewed use AI, regardless of their age or art medium. 22 said that they use AI for idea creation, two use AI for research, three use AI for image creation, five use it for debugging code or creating video scripts, and three use it for writing scripts for the final art piece (particularly video artists), and seven use AI throughout their creation process as well as in the final art piece or exhibition. For example, some use DALL·E as it is easy to use but they notice it is not as powerful as MidJourney. Many seem to be using Stable Diffusion, as Wang Xin^1. Wang Yiquan (b. 1987) is an artist, curator, and designer based in Shanghai. He is one of the founding partners of Acts and Pathways, which is a design company that he established in 2018 with designer Wu Jiayin. His research interests as a curator focus on the relationship between the city and art as well as the relationship between art and the economy. He has also contributed to a wide range of urban spatial designs and research projects in Shanghai, Beijing, and Hangzhou. Wang Yiquan received a BA Degree in Journalism from the Beijing International Studies University. He also studied Visual Communication Design at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing and completed an MA Degree in Narrative Environments at Central Saint Martins in London. Yiquan is originally from Beijing and now lives and works in Shanghai. says, “I use Stable Diffusion a lot because you can control it better and you can train it yourself.” Some use ChatGPT to create poems or scripts for final artworks, either by inputting their own code or an existing text into ChatGPT and waiting for it to generate text.

The most popular AI software is ChatGPT, followed by Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, Dall-E, and then E. Sora. 42% of survey respondents said they started to use AI in 2023. Those who started to use AI before 2023 are a lot less, with 27% starting in 2022, 19% in 2021, 5% in 2020, and only 1% started using AI in 2024. This shows that open AI software like ChatGPT has made artists more inclined to use AI in their practice.

The first peak year for the uptake of digital technologies was in 2010 and then again in 2019 and 2020. While the first peak is related to the increase in popularity of 3D modelling software as well as television and video mediums, the second peak is related to increases in the use of digital technology due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, this shows that a wide range of digital technologies have been an established part of artists’ work practices and artworks for at least 15 years.

These artists learned a lot of new digital skills during the COVID-19 pandemic, between 2020 and 2023. As Wang Yiquan says, “In the past 2–3 years, I have learned more about and used more digital technologies, including AI. Because of COVID, the physical path was not possible so there was more online.” Subsequently, “digital work” increased and became more widespread, with rapid and widespread integration of AI into the creation process.

Artists’ creative (mis)uses of AI and digital software

Contemporary visual artists across China, including painters, sculptors, video artists, photographers, internet, and digital artists, are using AI as far more than only a prompter to answer their questions. They use AI not only to answer questions and queries or execute commands: they have gone past the stage of testing AI. Instead, AI is now an established communication partner and collaborator in their creative processes. AI is now becoming a partner, the artist’s muse, who inspires them and actively participates in the creative and creation process with the artist.

Far from worrying about losing their jobs, visual artists from across China are in fact excited and optimistic about AI. They believe it can enhance their creativity, develop their knowledge and thinking, prevent them from being lonely in their studio, give them “four hands”, and reduce the amount of time they spend doing tasks down to a matter of minutes rather than days. This frees up a lot of time for artists to develop their ideas and be more productive and efficient at work.

They use AI in combination with digital software, including Blender, Unreal Engine, Unity, Miya, and Premier Pro. This provides them with creative combinations and allows them to mix mediums, such as video and game, and gives them a lot more creative possibilities.

As CHILLCHILL^2.CHILLCHILL (b.1990) is a digital artist, internet artist, and 3D animator. He also works in the club scene to exhibit his artworks. His artworks have a digital aesthetic and feature a dystopian exploration of society today and in the future. One recurring theme in his work is the “share economy,” which is represented in examples of Mobike and Alipay. He graduated from Sichuan Fine Art Institute after studying Oil Painting. Several key galleries and museums have exhibited his work, including Ota Fine Arts, Shanghai. He is originally from Beihai and currently lives in Shanghai. says,

“I want to mix them together [the software] to have something fun out of it. I just want to play with it, and see what I can get from it. I started using ChatGPT this year, Mid Journey and AI stuff. I am mixing them together[…]I get more and more freedom because now I can add more things inside and it changed my work a lot, made more freedom. There is more possibility than still image. The creating part with AI and software is more fun to me, because I can combine image, video, music, and then it’s like the whole performance. I really get used to using dig technologies.[…]I don’t like to use the software in the correct way. I want to mess around and do something new.”

As Yan Zhou^3.Yan Zhou (b. 1988) is a new media artist. He is originally from Beijing, China. He received his BFA from the China Central Academy of Fine Art in 2012 and his Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Visual Communication from the School of Art Institute of Chicago in 2013. He is currently MFA candidate 2015 in Visual Communication. Yan Zhou is an interdisciplinary artist and designer. His works combine daily experiences with conceptual understanding. Yan works with various media including printmaking, painting, drawing, films, and interactive design. says,

“Right, now I’m working on my new work using Unity software that I use a lot, back in 2012 its totally different because if you know about lots of video artists they are doing the shooting they are using the camera to do the shooting and putting the footage into the software like FinalCut or PremierPro. So what I do is kind of different. Because I use this software a lot so right now I am doing something really experimental. I am using this real-time, this is prof game design software—but I use them as a video editing software.”

Figure 1: Yan Zhou’s creative mixing of AI and digital software as well as combining video and games, the artist’s screenshot, taken in September 2023

AI is distinct from other digital software.

As CHILLCHILL says,

“I think AI has its own beauty, aesthetic and style, totally different than 3D software and rendering.”

As well as different in terms of aesthetics, AI is also different in terms of becoming a partner, companion, inspiration, and collaborator. They talk about AI as like a human being and how it empowers them:

As Maggie Chen^4.Maggie Menghan Chen (Maggie) (b. 1998, Beijing) is a sculptor and mixed-media artist. She lives and works in Beijing and London. She obtained her MA Degree in Fine Art at Chelsea College of Arts following her BA degree in Art History at New York University. Maggie Menghan Chen explores the growth and metamorphosis of life in her sculpture works. Chen creates surreal sculptures that are hybrids of real and non-real elements. A lot of her inspiration comes from flora and fauna. Chen also sees her work as metaphors for the human psyche. The ferocity of beasts and delicacy of flowers represent the struggle between aggression and sensitivity in the mind. says,

“I use AI and ChatGPT. It makes me feel less lonely in the creation process[…]I use machine learning for idea creation.”

Figure 2: Maggie Chen’s use of AI with 3D rendering and modelling software, a screenshot of the artist’s work process, taken in July 2023

Miao Xiaochun^5.Miao Xiaochun (b. 1964) is a new media artist who is based in Beijing. Miao is known for his large-scale photographs and panoramas of modern Chinese cityscapes. His artworks include computer-generated installations including one notable artwork titled “The Last Judgement in Cyberspace”. This is a 3D monochrome reworking of Michelangelo’s “The Last Judgment” from the Sistine Chapel, whereby Miao has replaced every figure with a virtual model of himself. He began exploring the connection between the real and the virtual in the 1990s. He received a BA Degree from Nanjing University in 1986. He received an MA Degree from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing in 1989 and received a second MA Degree from Kassel Academy of Fine Arts in Germany in 1999. He also teaches Art Photography and Digital Media at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. He was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, and now lives and works in Beijing. started using digital technologies in 2004:

“I was amazed at the modelling ability of the three-dimension software, for it can greatly expand my possibilities, and I might even say that fists are changed into four hands.… When using computers and software, I have a feeling that I’m cooperating with another mind and two other hands. I’m understanding its arithmetic logic, and it is catering to my imagination. It can complete the work that my hands cannot, at the same time my hands’ flexibility is what it cannot match. When these four hands are combined with each other, a new style is created. It fascinates me, and I deeply believe in its unique power. I will spend all my time and make all my effort to have this new style and power gradually revealed.[…]With new technology, I become very capable and very imaginative.[…]The computer and software are my stimulants.”

AI is used as an assistant to help in artists’ learning processes.

As Wang Xin^6.3Wang Xin (b. 1983) is an artist who is based in Shanghai. Her work focuses on the topics of the status of the artist, the functioning of the art market, and the use of AI for hypnosis therapy. In 2016, Xin had a solo show at the de Sarthe Gallery, Hong Kong, titled “Every Artist Should Have A Solo Show”. Some of her works include commentary about her own position and relation to the art world with the use of a sense of humor. Her second solo show, titled “The Must-See Art Show Where You Can Find 10,000 Artists”, exhibited at de Sarthe Gallery in Hong Kong, focuses on the functioning of the art world. Both exhibitions include interactive, site-specific installations. Wang is also a certified hypnotist and has explored using hypnosis in her art with the use of AI. Wang received a BFA Degree from China Academy of Art in 2007 and received an MFA Degree from the Art Institute of Chicago in 2011. Wang is from Yichang, Hubei, and currently lives and works in Shanghai. says,

“AI can help me to learn now. Like ChatGPT is really helpful to fix the coding part. Actually I use ChatGPT almost everyday to help me fix my code. Maybe before I spent several days to fix but now they can do it in several seconds. So it really helped to improve my progress…I code my own AI using my own data.”

Wang Xin wants to program her AI to be more human-like. She believes she can learn more about creativity and human cognition through using AI. She also believes AI can be helpful in therapy. In one of her installation exhibitions, as shown in Figure 3 below, she programmed an AI to provide therapy for visitors. The visitor goes into the exhibition room and the AI asks the visitor questions based on the information given before entering the exhibition.

Figure 3: Wang Xin, I am Awake and My Body is Full of the Sun and the Earth and the Stars, I am Now Awake and I am an Immense Thing, Installation exhibition, de Sarthe gallery Hong Kong, 2022

Along with Wang Xin, other artists also use words to describe this creative control they have found, such as “training,” “controlling,” “mixing,” “breaking” and “influencing.” They say they do this to get creative results.

As Wang Xin3 says,

“As an artist, I am intrigued by the potential of integrating my dream experiences as a source of inspiration for my AI’s development. By recognizing and recording the data from my dreams, I envision imbuing the AI I customize with a uniquely human essence – a ‘spirit touch’ from my dream world.[…]By gaining a comprehensive understanding of these fields [like coding and algorithms], I aim to uncover valuable insights into the inner workings of the human mind, particularly in relation to creativity, imagination, and emotional processing. This knowledge will be instrumental in informing the development of my custom AI program, allowing me to create a system that authentically captures and reflects the complexity and richness of human cognition.

“…Today, I had a discussion with Chat GPT regarding my artistic creation, ‘New Enchanted Artworld Manifesto.’ In our exchange, I prompted the AI to invent a novel term along with its definition that would align with the dynamic framework of my manifesto. My objective was to draw inspiration from the AI’s capacity for content generation. I urged Chat GPT to enhance its output continuously, aiming for a refined end-result through this iterative process.

“…I think AI can help to make me more creative, because the AI can generate many creative images so that will push artists to do much more beyond what AI can do, to create something more and in a creative way.”

Having AI as a collaborative partner can push artists to be more creative. As Yan Xiaojing^7.Yan Xiaojing (b. 1978) is a sculptor, installation, and public artist. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Decorative Arts from Nanjing University of the Arts in 2000; a Bachelor of Arts in Jewelry making from George Brown College in Toronto Canada; and a Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, USA. She was born in Jiangsu and now works between Canada and China. says, “digital is good for accuracy and allows me to compute large amounts of information in little time.”  As Wang Yiquan^8. Zhou Chengzhou (Armida) (周承舟; b. 1982) is a film director and photographer. His work is concerned with problems relating to the mental and spiritual well-being of individuals. Zhou’s work also revolves around the concepts of industry, urbanization, and marginalisation. He was born in Changde, Hunan. He studied literature and language and Peking University. says, “it moves my ideas forward.”

These artists do more digital work for the creation of artworks because they see it as efficient, cost-effective, and practical. As Armida says, “It’s convenience, such as ChatGPT, it’s really beneficial to the creation of your work.”

CHILLCHILL states the practical reasons for moving from being a painter to an internet artist:

“I switched to 3D animation, it gives me more motion. Painting takes too much time. If I use the computer I can do it quickly, so it’s more convenient, so I switched to the digital way. Painting needs a big studio with a high roof, you need to live outside of the city, but I like to live inside the city, so like this studio, it has to be small, too small for painting.”

Figure 4: CHILLCHILL’s studio, the artist’s photograph, taken in November 2023

Some artists discuss how they creatively misuse AI, with many purposefully using digital software in alternative ways. They want to “mess”, “play”, and be innovative.  CHILLCHILL says “I don’t like to use the software in the correct way. I don’t want to use it correctly. I want to mess around and do something new. Definitely, this way can be creative.”  Shi Zheng^9.Shi Zheng (b. 1990) is a contemporary visual artist based in Shanghai and New York. Shi’s artworks include audio-visual installations, digital music, and live performances. Shi is interested in virtual simulation, “machine vision,” and the philosophy of technology. Alongside his individual artistic creations, Shi also collaborates with other artists in various fields. For instance, he works as part of an artist group called RMBit which was founded in 2013 by Shi and Nenghuo, Wang Zhipeng, and Weng Wei. This artist group focuses on the current context of social media. Additionally, Shi is part of the Audio-Visual performance group called Open Super Control (OSC). Shi’s individual and group works have been exhibited at museums, art institutions, and media art festivals in China and internationally. Some of these institutions include TANK Shanghai, Sifang Art Museum, MOCA Yinchuan, Sound Art China, Beijing Biennial, FILE Electronic Language International Festival, Ars Electronica, Institute of Contemporary Arts London, and Castello di Rivara. Shi received a BA Degree from the China Academy of Art and received an MFA Degree from the School of the Art Institute in Chicago. says “I break the system to use it well. I use a different technology for each artwork to get good results […]I try to think of other ways to influence it [the AI].”

Conclusion

Only two artists were worried about losing their jobs to AI, while the majority see AI and digital software as “thinking systems,” “stimulants,” “another pair of hands” to enhance their performance. The majority are comfortable using AI for creating their ideas, images, and producing artworks and are not openly worried about losing creativity or their position as an artist. Instead, these artists experience more creativity by being able to use creative combinations of software, mix artistic mediums, and use software not as it was intended. Overall, artists feel AI gives them a partner and collaborator, power, stimulation, creativity, enhances their mental and imaginative capabilities, and improves their speed, accuracy and progress.

They are also using AI and other digital software in novel ways and not in the ways the technology was intended to be used. This will likely change the artistic method dramatically and may even influence artists’ cognitive processes, in terms of how they think and what ideas they come up with. This could impact art in the future as well as the nature of the job of artists. AI is now contributing to the creative fabric of our cultural products and people’s everyday lives. However, we also must consider what this means for the future of artists’ roles.

AI is not only influencing final artworks but is also influencing and integral to young artists’ working lives and conditions. As a result, the role of the artist is changing, as they collaborate now with a digital suite and are always changing or updating their skills. This means that, as Wang Yiquan says, “the lone-scholar-artist tradition in China is changing.” The scholar of one material is not favoured by this generation of artists, who are always learning new systems for every project – and always working with a “partner”.

These artists have gone past the stage of testing AI to now use it to enhance their skills, and give them more time, and some are controlling and breaking it for creative ends. Artists have always been the vanguards of new technologies throughout history, so perhaps we are now seeing the same happening with AI.

Here is a link to the survey if you are a prof artist and would like to take part (only for professional Chinese artists living in China):

Here is link to a longer article if you wish to read more about this topic.

References

World Economic Forum (2022) Understanding the US ‘AI Bill of Rights’ – and how it can keep AI accountable.

Adobe (2018) Creativity and Technology in the Age of AI: Report on USA, Europe, and Japan. 

Appel, G., Neelbauer, J. & Schweidel, D. (2023) Generative AI Has an Intellectual Property Problem, Harvard Business Review. 7th April 2023.

Bisoyi, A. (2022) Ownership, liability, patentability, and creativity issues in artificial intelligence, Information Security Journal: A Global Perspective, 31:4, 377-386, DOI: 10.1080/19393555.2022.2060879

Chinese Government (2021) 14th Five-year Plan for Artistic Creation, Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Chinese Government (2023) Notice for Industrial Intelligence and the New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development of the Ministry of Science and Technology 2023. h

Montgomery, Lucy and Keane, Michael (2004) Learning to Love the Market: Copyright, Culture and China. In Proceedings: Intellectual Property Rights, Communication and the Public Domain in the Asia Pacific-Region, University of Queensland

Nolan, B. (2022) Artists say AI image generators are copying their style to make thousands of new images — and it’s completely out of their control. 

Tajalli, P. AI ethics and the banality of evil. Ethics Inf Technol 23, 447–454 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10676-021-09587-x

About Emma Duester

Emma Duester is an Associate Professor at the USC-SJTU Institute of Cultural and Creative Industry at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. Previously, Emma was a faculty member at the School of Communication and Design at RMIT University (Vietnam). She held this position from 2019 until 2022. Emma was the principal investigator in a funded research project called ‘Digitization of Art and Culture in Vietnam’, carried out from 2020 until 2023. Emma was part of a DFAT Grant project called ‘Investing in Women’ across Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. Emma has worked with the government and national media to lobby for cultural development in Vietnam. She is the author of ‘The Politics of Migration and Mobility in the Art World: Transnational Baltic Artistic Practices Across Europe’, published by Intellect in 2021, and of ‘Digitization and Culture in Vietnam’, published by Routledge in 2023. Emma received a PhD in media and communications from Goldsmiths, University of London, in 2017, after undertaking an ESRC-funded doctoral research project on transnational artistic practices across Europe. She has expertise in both research and practice in cultural sector development and transnational communication in Europe, Vietnam, and China. Her areas of research interest include technology and culture, digital culture, the culture sector, digitization of cultural heritage, digital technologies, museum and digital environments, transnational communication, migration and mobilities.

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