What is it about?
Audiences often respond differently to art when they learn AI was used, even if the artwork objectively looks the same. This meta-analysis of 35 studies shows that believing an image was made with AI has a negative effect on how people see its visual qualities or value an artwork, and particularly on how meaningful, creative or intentional audiences believe the work to be. This bias against AI in art is far from consistent. Younger audiences, for example, tend to show less negative responses, pointing to a generational shift in bias against AI.
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Photo by Steve Johnson on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Understanding why people react differently to art made with AI matters because AI is becoming a routine part of artistic practice. If audiences judge a work more negatively simply because AI was involved, this affects how artists, curators, and museums choose to present their work. As this bias shifts with age, art style and viewing context, the findings help nuance ongoing debates about AI in the arts. Rather than treating AI as a structural risk to artistic value and aesthetic experience, its influence needs to be considered for each artwork, exhibition, and target audience. It also raises a broader question that will interest many: how will our understanding of creativity change when the tools we use reshape our expectations of what art can be?
Perspectives
Working on this research showed how easily the role of AI in art is misunderstood. Many studies, and much public discussion, treat AI as if it fully replaces the artist, yet every work made with AI involves a great deal of human decision making. People choose the data, shape the models, write the prompts and select the final images. When viewers believe the artwork comes from an autonomous machine, they are responding to an idea of authorship that may not actually exist. For me personally, this is one of the most striking things the project taught me.
Alwin de Rooij
Tilburg University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Bias against artificial intelligence in visual art: A meta-analysis., Psychology of Aesthetics Creativity and the Arts, November 2025, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/aca0000833.
You can read the full text:
Resources
The Invisible Maker (De Onzichtbare Maker)
Essay published at the Art Magazine "Mister Motley" about the invisible authorship that characterizes many artworks made with AI (Dutch language only).
‘Bias against Artificial Intelligence in Visual Art’ published in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts
Press release on the CARADT website.
Project page for "Bias Against Artificial Intelligence in Visual Art: A Meta-Analysis"
Open Science Project page including data and analysis.
Has AI Surpassed Humans in Creative Idea Generation? A Meta-Analysis
Related meta-analysis recently published about the question of whether AI is now more creative than people.
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