The Merging Of Humans And Machines

As artificial intelligence exponentially advances, the resulting shockwave has hit creatives either like a gut punch or a herald of undreamed possibilities. Many scramble to keep up with the stampede of developments, the rapid-fire transformation of industries, and the improbable output of AI image generators. Perhaps only an AI assistant could order it all.

What will AI-generated art look like in 2025? Clues based on technological advancements, what was trending in 2024, and the public’s appetite for AI offer a glimpse into what humans may be looking at on their screens, billboards, and in public spaces in 2025.

The Democratization And Personalization Of AI Art Tools

Platforms and apps will increasingly feature workflows to create high-quality art, even for those without much training. Just as ChatGPT and Grammarly have revolutionized writing (although AI-checkers can spot copy-and-paste jobs), art-based AI systems will enable the masses to become creators. Expect to see social media platforms integrate AI tools, enabling users to create personalized visuals and posts.

“People will be able to create deeply personal works with models trained on an artist’s photography, writing, or other creative inputs,” said Cansu Peker, founder of the Digital Arts Blog. An example: Sweden-based artist Lela Amparo merges her photographs with machine-imagined worlds. The otherworldly landscapes “feel both alien and intimately personal,” Peker said in an email.

Amparo takes a multidisciplinary approach, producing ambient music that she blends with art to create immersive installations, another trend that is expected to grow in 2025. “I love the feeling of establishing a scene that looks familiar, such as an arctic tundra, and then placing an object like a portal in the middle of it,” she said in an interview with Peker.

“By 2025, AI tools will let people co-create super-personalized art—your style, your story, your vibe,” said Justin Belmont, CEO of Prose Media. “Platforms like Midjourney are already teasing this, and it’s only getting bigger.” DALL-E and tools like SDXL, a text-to-image program developed by Stability AI, have been simplified, allowing ease among users.

Emerging visual trends for 2025 include retro-futurism, a style based on nostalgic views of the future. The comforting feel-good aesthetic draws on midcentury visions of what life would be like in 100 or more years.

Human And AI Collaborations Will Soar

Humans will increasingly grow more comfortable with AI in all aspects of their lives. In the field of art, collaborations will take on a branded, purposeful feel.

An example: Kalmyk American poet Sasha Stiles has created an “AI alter ego” named Technelegy, which fuses performance, visual and language arts. She describes her alter ego as a type of third entity, a “transhuman poet” that she embodies as she employs various AI tools. Her work has been featured by Art Basel, Gucci and MoMA, among others.

This hybrid of artist and artificial intelligence will increasingly become a separate category, and indeed as Stiles terms it, a third entity. In 2025, expect more artists to follow Stiles’ lead—not only in the fields of writing and performing but in music, sculpture, architecture and fashion, among other fields.

“Artists are teaming up with AI instead of fighting it, blending human intuition with AI’s wild creativity,” Belmont said. “Hybrid art is the next big thing.”

Such mergers will produce living breathing art, some of which will interact with humans. “Static pieces are out,” Belmont said.

Turkish-American artist and designer Refik Anadol’s abstract public artworks are said to herald an era of “post-digital architecture.” Alternative realities will be imagined by “redefining the functionalities of both interior and exterior architectural elements,” he states on his website. “Entire buildings come to life, floors, walls, and ceilings disappear into infinity, breathtaking aesthetics take shape from large swaths of data.”

Ethics And Legal Battles Will Grow

AI models schooled on intellectual property will increasingly face legal battles. A major fight in the works: the Getty Images lawsuit seeking $1.7 billion in damages from Stability AI, claiming intellectual property rights infringement. Getty Images, one of the world’s largest photo agencies, claims that Stability AI has used more than 12 million photographs from its collection.

“The ripple effects extend beyond visual arts,” said Jordan Mitchell, founder of Growth Stack Media. “Recent investigations revealed that approximately 139,000 television and film scripts were used without authorization to train AI models, including those developed by major tech companies.”

A possible solution: As NFTs can establish ownership of digital works, blockchain technology could create “immutable records and provide the transparency needed in an AI-dominated creative landscape,” Mitchell said.

Buttressing legal battles: the Artificial Intelligence Act, adopted by the European Parliament in March 2024. The new EU-wide regulations reign in accountability and establish AI use requirements, cueing up Europe as a global leader on the topic.

Opportunities For Gig Workers Will Plummet—And Rise

“Platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, and similar hubs are already seeing a massive drop in commissions, requests and interest in human graphic designers,” said Yashin Manraj, CEO of Pvotal Technologies. “Job postings on Indeed also dropped by 36% in the third quarter of 2024.”

At the same time, AI will generate new forms of work, including AI agents—platforms that manage projects, match creatives with tasks and automate administrative tasks.

As seen in various industries, AI can be the hand that removes opportunities, while presenting new and intriguing ones.