Commercial Vs. Non-Commercial Art

There are two main purposes of art; serving yourself and serving others. Art that serves others is known as commercial art. You are making it for money and fame. You are not the true artist since you are merely bringing the visions of others to life for profit and recognition. A commercial artist is someone like Ron Howard. He doesn’t make movies for himself, he follows what the studio wants. This is not an invalid form of art, many commercial artists are extremely talented. However, commercial artists are in danger of replacement. If someone wants a work of art created, a vision brought to life, they can just use AI. They don’t need to pay others to bring their visions to life anymore when a robot can do it instantly.

The other purpose of art is non-commercial. You are creating art because you want to bring a vision to life and express yourself. When making a movie there are at most two people who truly matter; the director and the screenwriter. Sometimes the director’s job is to follow the screenwriter’s vision. Sometimes the writer and director are the same person. Sometimes the director does not need a screenwriter, they write a short summary and film the movie with their vision in mind. Whatever the case, the only person who matters in a film’s creation is the person with the vision. The job of everyone else is to bring that vision to life. Directors (and sometimes screenwriters) are the only artists on set, everyone else (cinematographers, editors, costume designers, production designers…) is a commercial artist. They are tools for the director to use (sometimes the screenwriter uses the director as a tool). Sometimes a cinematographer can have more creative control, but the only person that is truly needed to bring a vision to life is the person with a vision.

AI cannot destroy art made for yourself because the whole point is that it is your vision being brought to life. You cannot express yourself with a vision made by a robot, but you can bring a vision to life using robots. Commercial art is in danger, but personal art will never die as long as humans have the desire to express themselves. That’s not to say that traditional filmmaking will completely disappear, but it will become rare, like ballet or opera. Many are scared of this future, but artists should celebrate it. Soon everyone will have the ability to become an artist as long as they have a vision. Artists will no longer have to worry about their work generating a profit, their only concern will be whether or not their vision is brought to life.

Note: an artist can be both commercially successful and also express themselves, but their goals are always the same. A commercially successful artist who creates art for themselves is still creating art for themselves. They just happen to be commercially successful. AI will destroy the commercial success of those artists, but they will still keep their personal expression.