The Mirror of the Machine

Why AI Art Feels Strange, Familiar, and Worth Talking About

AI-generated art can feel unsettling—like a perfect face that never existed. As a swimmer-painter who loves blurred vision underwater, I’m fascinated by that discomfort. Let’s explore why this happens and what it means for collectors.

1 — Why AI Art Feels Uncanny

Roboticist Masahiro Mori coined the term uncanny valley in 1970: the idea that something almost human—but not quite—can trigger discomfort (Mori, 2012). Many AI artworks live in that space. The image is beautiful, but something’s off. Fingers glitch. Eyes feel vacant.

What we may be reacting to is a lack of intention. Traditional artwork carries visible traces of the artist’s hand. But with AI-generated work, especially fully autonomous ones, it’s harder to sense who made it and why. That emotional distance can feel eerie.

As Freud put it in The Uncanny, it’s the feeling of seeing something familiar—but altered just enough to unsettle us.

For Collectors

This doesn’t mean AI-assisted art lacks value. When used as a tool, not a substitute, AI can support meaningful human creation. Ask artists about their process. The soul often comes through in how the tool is used—not just what it generates.

2 — AI as a Cultural Mirror

Created with chatgpt - 2025

AI pulls from huge datasets—images, memes, selfies, ads, museum scans. As Kate Crawford explains in Atlas of AI (2021), these systems reflect our digital culture back to us. That’s why AI art often feels eerily familiar.

But this mirror is distorted. AI amplifies trends, filters, and clichés. The images aren’t just artificial—they’re hyper-human, echoing the curated world of social media.

Trevor Paglen notes that AI shapes “what becomes visible.” It doesn’t just show us images; it reinforces certain aesthetics and hides others.

For Collectors

Ask: What is this work reflecting? What cultural patterns or aesthetics is it remixing? Understanding this adds depth to your appreciation and helps you identify authentic voice.

3 — Dissociation, Swimming & the Blur of Reality

During my teens, I’ve experienced mild dissociation—a sense of floating outside myself. Swimming became my way of grounding that feeling. Underwater, everything blurs. That’s what I paint: liminal perception, soft and fractured.

AI image generation feels similar. It breaks reality into fragments and rebuilds it—digitally dissociated, yet strangely beautiful.

In Flow, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes a state where time and ego disappear (1990). I’ve felt that swimming, painting, and creating with AI tools. It’s no longer about disconnecting—it’s about entering a creative threshold.

For Collectors

Art that explores blur, distortion, or altered perception offers a sensory and emotional experience. When you connect with that, you’re not just buying a piece—you’re sharing a way of seeing.

4 — New Tools, Old Resistance

AI isn’t the first art tool to cause controversy.

Image created using ChatGPT - 2025

“create an image of Cyanotypes”

• Photomontage was once dismissed as trickery (Duro, 2018).

• Cyanotypes were seen as scientific, not artistic (Hannavy, 2013).

• Screen-printing wasn’t taken seriously until Warhol (MoMA, n.d.).

History shows us that every new medium meets resistance—until time reframes its value.

Meanwhile, corporations profit from AI while restricting its use. Stock photo sites banned AI images—then quietly launched their own tools (Peters, 2023). Often, the debate isn’t about ethics—it’s about control.

For Collectors

Context matters. Ask about the artist’s approach. Limited-edition prints, transparent processes, and meaningful themes all increase value and authenticity.

5 — Is AI Art Real? A Collector’s Dilemma

Maybe the real question isn’t “Is it real?” but “Does it move you?”

Art begins in many places: a photo, a dream, a reference image, a prompt. What matters is what the artist does with it. If there’s intention, skill, and relationship—it’s art.

Collectors have always adapted. Photography, digital painting, and even video art were once controversial. Now they’re celebrated. AI-assisted art is likely next.

The responsibility of “carrying an image well” still matters—whether the spark came from a brushstroke or a text prompt.

For Collectors

If a piece resonates—emotionally, symbolically, visually—it’s worth honoring. Art doesn’t need to follow old rules. It needs to be felt.

📚 References (APA 7)

• American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.).

• Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. Harper & Row.

• Crawford, K. (2021). Atlas of AI. Yale University Press.

• Freud, S. (1919). The uncanny (Das Unheimliche). In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 17, pp. 217–256). Hogarth Press.

• Gunning, T. (2004). Re-Newing Old Technologies: Astonishment, Second Nature, and the Uncanny Valley. In MediaArtHistories Conference Papers.

• Mori, M. (1970). The uncanny valley. Energy, 7(4), 33–35.

• Mori, M. (2012). The uncanny valley (K. F. MacDorman & N. Kageki, Trans.). IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, 19(2), 98–100. (Original work published 1970)

• Paglen, T. (2016). Invisible Images (Your Pictures Are Looking at You). The New Inquiry. https://thenewinquiry.com/invisible-images-your-pictures-are-looking-at-you/

• Peters, J. (2023). Shutterstock’s quiet reversal on AI art. TechCrunch.