A genuine Vermeer?

If you search for 'Vermeer' in Google, the search engine immediately shows a number of images of paintings by the 17th-century painter. But the first search result is not a painting by the master, but an image created by AI. The German Julian van Dieken has commissioned the AI program Midjourney to create an image 'in the style of Vermeer'. This fake painting, inspired by 'Girl with a pearl earring' by Johannes Vermeer, therefore ranks at the top of Google's search algorithm. At the beginning of this year there was already a controversy because the 'painting' was exhibited in the Mauritshuis.
An AI-generated painting by American artist Edward Hopper also ranked high in Google's search results. Google's comment: "Our systems may not always select the best images, whether those images are produced, AI-generated or not."

Overrun by AI

Is this a bad thing? Yes. Attentive art lovers can immediately see that something is wrong, but not everyone can distinguish a real Hopper or Vermeer from an AI-generated image 'in the style of'. Think of the student who writes a thesis about Vermeer and bases himself on the first images he or she sees. The top result of Google could well be the first introduction to the artist. Can you expect someone like that to pick out the real Vermeers?
And this could be just the beginning. Last year, Tilburg University predicted that by 2027, 90% of all online content will be wholly or partly generated by AI. The remaining 10% will be squeezed out as a result. And because AI relies on other texts and images, which are increasingly produced by AI itself, creativity may well succumb to the monotony that proliferates and only reinforces itself.