Can humanoid robots become artists, engaging in painting, music, or literary creation?

Can Robots Become Artists Like Van Gogh? Discussing AI's Brushstrokes and Staves

This question is fascinating, and it always sparks heated debates among my friends. Simply put, my view is: Yes, but also no.

Sounds contradictory, right? Don't worry, let's look at it from a few angles.

How do robots "create"?

First, we need to understand how current robots (or rather, the AI behind them) paint and compose music.

Don't imagine it as a flesh-and-blood person holding a brush and contemplating. It's more like a super scholar, but one that's a bit "specialized."

Massive "Feeding": Researchers feed it thousands upon thousands of human historical artworks, musical scores, and texts. For example, to teach it to paint, they show it Van Gogh's Starry Night, Picasso's Cubist works, traditional Chinese landscape paintings, and so on.
Learning "Patterns": AI doesn't get moved by art like we do. Instead, it uses mathematical methods to analyze the style, brushstrokes, color schemes, and compositional rules of these works. It's like a music student analyzing Beethoven's chord progressions and rhythmic patterns, rather than feeling the emotion.
"Drawing Inferences": After learning these "patterns," you give it an instruction, such as "paint a cat in space in Van Gogh's style." It then combines the "cat" you provided with the "Van Gogh style" it learned to generate a brand new painting.

So, technically speaking, robots can engage in painting, music, and literary creation. There are already many AI painting tools (like Midjourney) and AI music generators whose works can sometimes be incredibly realistic, even astonishing.

(AI-generated images like this are already incredibly impressive) *

Why then "no"?

This brings us to the core of artistic creation: creativity and emotion.

Why are we moved by a piece of art?

Because we can feel Van Gogh's inner struggle and his cosmic imagination when he painted The Starry Night.
Because we can hear the power of seizing destiny by the throat in Beethoven's Symphony No. 5.
Because we can read Du Fu's patriotic sentiment when he wrote "When can I have tens of thousands of spacious houses?"

These things all stem from the creator's life experiences, personal emotions, and unique thoughts and feelings about the world. A painter might create a melancholic blue painting after a breakup, and a musician might compose a joyful melody upon the birth of their child.

And this is precisely what robots currently lack.

It has no "why": AI can generate a painting that looks sad, but it doesn't know what sadness is. It's merely imitating the common blue tones, drooping lines, and other elements humans use to express sadness. It lacks an intrinsic motivation for creation.
It has no life experience: Robots have no childhood, no dreams, no love or hate. Their creations are not based on a genuine understanding of life and the world, but merely on cold data and algorithms.
It's more like a "high-level tool": For now, AI is more like a "magic brush" in the hands of human artists. The ultimate creativity, ideas, and aesthetic judgment for selecting works still rest with humans. You tell the AI what to paint, and you decide which generated result is better.

Conclusion: "Craftsman" or "Master"?

So, returning to the initial question: Can humanoid robots become artists?

If the definition of "artist" is someone who can skillfully apply techniques and create works that conform to certain styles and aesthetic standards, then they are, and perhaps very efficient, highly skilled "artistic craftsmen."
But if the definition of "artist" is an "art master" who expresses unique thoughts, conveys genuine emotions through their work, and possesses an original creative impulse, then they are currently not.

I believe we don't need to be alarmed by this. The advent of the camera didn't make painters obsolete; instead, it gave rise to photography as a new art form. The emergence of AI likely won't replace human artists either, but rather become a powerful new tool, helping humanity explore more possibilities in art.

Perhaps the art of the future will be a collaboration between humans and machines.