AI Art and Authorship: Who Makes the Work?
Editorial Vol 24 - AI art and authorship.
When a machine takes part in making an image, where does the artwork begin? In the artist’s intention, the choices made during the process, the system’s output—or in the relationship between them?
This question is no longer confined to studios working with digital tools. In March 2026, Art Basel Hong Kong introduced Zero 10 to its Asia programme, a platform dedicated to art of the digital era. Among its presentations was Sougwen Chung’s RECURSIONS, a live calligraphic work in which biometric signals and a custom interface guide the artist’s mark-making. The example matters because it makes the process visible: technology is present, but so are the artist’s decisions, history and gestures.
The arrival of new tools does not settle the question of authorship. It makes it more important to ask what the artist contributes, what the system does, and how the work asks to be encountered.
AI art and authorship: where does the artist’s role begin?
A tool can extend what an artist is able to do. But the presence of a tool alone does not tell us what makes a work distinctive.
In a process involving AI, human choices may shape the concept, the prompts, the selection of outputs, the editing, the sequencing or the final presentation. Different works involve different degrees and kinds of participation. Treating them all as “made by AI” can obscure the artistic decisions that give a work its direction. Treating every output as a fully human-made work can obscure the system’s role.
The more useful question is not simply whether AI was used. It is how it was used, and what the artist made of that encounter.
For artists: make the process legible
Artists do not need to provide a technical manual for every work. But when digital or generative tools are central to a project, a concise account of the process can help an audience understand what is at stake.
What was the starting point? Which decisions remained with the artist? How were generated or machine-assisted elements selected, changed or rejected? What does the tool make possible—and what does it limit?
These questions can clarify a practice without closing down interpretation. They also help distinguish a considered artistic process from the simple presentation of an output.
For collectors: ask what you are acquiring
When considering a digitally produced or AI-assisted work, collectors can ask about the artist’s process, the role of the technology, and how the work exists: as a unique object, an edition, a file, a performance or an evolving system.
It is also useful to understand what accompanies the work: documentation, display instructions, software dependencies or information about the edition. These details are part of how a digital artwork is preserved and experienced.
Curiosity need not diminish a first response. It can deepen it by revealing the decisions and relationships behind what we see.
For curators and galleries: describe the work with precision
Presenting work involving AI calls for language that is specific and proportionate. Labels such as “AI-generated” may be relevant, but they rarely explain the whole practice.
Curators and galleries can help audiences by describing the artist’s methods, identifying the role of the technology where known, and avoiding claims that go beyond the available information. A careful presentation can acknowledge collaboration with a system while keeping attention on the artwork’s form, questions and context.
This is especially important when a work draws on living artists’ styles, personal data or source material whose origins are unclear. Transparency supports trust; it does not replace the need for artistic and curatorial judgement.
Beyond the tool: attention, intention and responsibility
Art’s relationship with technology has never been only about novelty. Every medium changes what can be made and how it can be encountered. The question for artists, collectors and curators is what a particular tool contributes to a particular work.
At NNC Gallery, we look for the choices that shape an artistic practice: what the artist is pursuing, how the work develops and what it invites us to consider. A new tool may open a door. The work still asks us to look closely.
Discover the artists featured by NNC Gallery and explore the current Challenge.
Comments