What happens when you post a real Monet and say it's AI? • Hacker News Board

Re: What happens when you post a real Monet and say it's AI?

#71

Post by mizzao » Thu, May 14, 2026, 4:43 PM UTC

soared wrote: post #9

Two interesting replies: It’s not a physical painting made by a well known artist. It’s trying to hard to be a late Monet. How much of our opinions are driven by context, rather than the actual subject? If Monet’s work is not so great without the context, is it still great? Or is context a critical piece of the art itself? Do we need to view a Monet piece within the scope of other Monet pieces, other artists, time pe…

This feels like the example of (world-famous violinist) Joshua Bell playing violin in the DC subway and getting just a few bucks. It's totally different than paying money to see him in a concert hall, context matters so much...

Re: What happens when you post a real Monet and say it's AI?

#72

Post by phyzix5761 » Thu, May 14, 2026, 5:25 PM UTC

I did a similar test back around 2007 on a famous photography website and shared real Edward Weston photographs of landscapes/buildings and people critiqued it quite negatively. This proved to me that popularity, context, and foreknowledge wins when it comes to art.

Re: What happens when you post a real Monet and say it's AI?

#73

Post by Jordan-117 » Thu, May 14, 2026, 5:31 PM UTC

sph wrote: post #7

AI art enjoyers and missing the point of art: name a better duo. No one has ever claimed AI cannot imitate a Monet, but however good the imitation, it still isn't art any more than a Xerox of a painting is art. This is the exact reason why most people feel bad after discovering that what they felt was work of human ingenuity, is just a fake, a simulacrum of it. The creation of art, arguably the most human of instinct…

That's fair, but a lot of the attacks on AI art specifically point to perceived technical and compositional flaws. Heck, you still see people making "mangled fingers" jokes, and that hasn't been a thing in frontier models for a couple years now. Plus, a lot of the stylistic and "lacks creativity" critiques come from people churning out images with basic prompts on default settings; a modicum of effort makes it much more difficult to distinguish.

Re: What happens when you post a real Monet and say it's AI?

#74

Post by Jordan-117 » Thu, May 14, 2026, 5:35 PM UTC

nailer wrote: post #66

So odd this is flagged. Not complaining about moderation, but why would I bother submitting stimulating articles in future? dang it would to use the flags as a way to prune recent HN users.

My guess is that the "experiment" isn't very rigorous -- just a direct link to some Twitter rando posting low-res image bait and cherry-picking answers (plus some trolly follow-ups).

Re: What happens when you post a real Monet and say it's AI?

#75

Post by Jordan-117 » Thu, May 14, 2026, 5:36 PM UTC

The same thing in reverse:

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/003/240/678/2b9...

Re: What happens when you post a real Monet and say it's AI?

#76

Post by danielbln » Thu, May 14, 2026, 6:13 PM UTC

0x_rs wrote: post #46

NFTbro discovers expectancy effect . This has nothing to do with art or social experiments, so much so it's actually insulting to one's intelligence.

Seems like that NFTBro hit a nerve with this art lover.

Re: What happens when you post a real Monet and say it's AI?

#77

Post by mac3n » Thu, May 14, 2026, 6:33 PM UTC

the story goes, when the first Edison wax cylinder recording came out, they were indistinguishable from a live performance. these days we can hear the noise, crackles, and lack of dynamic range.

Re: What happens when you post a real Monet and say it's AI?

#78

Post by skygazer » Thu, May 14, 2026, 10:36 PM UTC

People confabulate. The setup further invites it. We mindlessly fill voids and call it opinion, and occassionally even believe ourselves. "Plausibility" is a really low bar. Rigor is tiring and we'd rather not invest as no one demands it, anyway.