Artistic status of visual productions generated by artificial intelligence: An analysis from Gadamer's point of view

Date

2026-8-18

Author

Durukan İpek, Burcu

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Artificial intelligence has transformed artistic practice and renewed philosophical debates on art, creativity, and authorship. Rather than asking whether AI can be regarded as an autonomous artist, this dissertation examines the artistic status of AI- generated visual productions. It argues that this question cannot be answered solely by determining whether AI possesses consciousness comparable to that of a human being. Instead, the study develops a hermeneutic account of AI-generated art through Hans- Georg Gadamer’s philosophy while critically engaging with the expressive theories of Benedetto Croce and R. G. Collingwood. While expressive theories locate art primarily within human consciousness, this dissertation argues that artworks cannot be understood solely through their creators’ inner experiences. Drawing on Gadamer’s concepts of historicity and the fusion of horizons, it proposes that the artistic significance of AI-generated visual productions emerges through historically situated interpretation. Although AI lacks lived experience, it operates upon historically accumulated human cultural productions and participates in artistic creation through collaboration with human artists. AI-generated artworks therefore remain embedded within human historicity and the ongoing dialogue of artistic tradition. The dissertation concludes that the artistic significance of AI-generated visual productions lies not in machine autonomy but in the interaction of human intentionality, historical continuity, and interpretation. In this sense, AI-generated art is proposed as an art of the future; not because it replaces existing artistic practices, but because it extends the hermeneutic possibilities of art by opening new horizons for artistic creation and interpretation.

Subject Keywords

Artificial Intelligence, AI-generated Art, Gadamer, Fusion of Horizons

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/120063

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis