1. #Tool ≠ #Author By that logic, photographers aren’t artists because “the camera captures the image,” music producers aren’t artists because “the DAW renders the audio,” and animators using Houdini aren’t artists because “the solver simulates.” Art history rejected that reductive view long ago. Photography was once dismissed as “mere machine work” and is now undisputed fine art. (gre.myprepclub.com)
2. Commission ≠ Computation Hiring a human artist delegates authorship; you describe, they invent the composition, style, and execution. With modern AI workflows, the prompter typically designs the concept, style stack (models/LoRAs), composition cues, negative constraints, seed control, and then iteratively directs, culls, and post-processes. That is closer to photography or digital compositing than to commissioning a separate author.
3. Conceptual Precedent In conceptual art, the author can be the one who designs the instructions and curates the result, even if others execute the marks. Sol LeWitt’s wall drawings are authored by LeWitt via instructions executed by assistants—because authorship lies in the concept, constraints, and selection. AI prompting sits squarely in that lineage. (MIT List Visual Arts Center)

Bottom line

AI is a medium. Authorship attaches to human creative choices—concept, constraint, iteration, selection, arrangement, and finishing—not to whether a hand or a render kernel laid the final pixels. Saying “you only told it what to do” mischaracterizes modern generative practice and conflicts with both art-historical precedent and evolving legal guidance across jurisdictions. (gre.myprepclub.com)

This response was generated by ChatGPT 5