Is it Art?

The 2026 Whitney Biennial recently opened, and critics have characterized the 82nd edition of the event as the “year of ChatGPT [or AI-driven] art.” In an article in the New York Times, art critic Hinton Als wrote that the show “introduces viewers to what I call ChatGPT art — facsimiles of facsimiles by makers who have little if any relationship to what they’re putting out there, aside from its being a product in service of a career.”

Oof. That doesn’t sound like art at all. But here it is, in one of the most prestigious art exhibitions in the world.

So… is it art?

I asked ChatGPT. Its responses ended with a question: “Is art defined by its maker, or by the truth it awakens in us?”

Nice sidestep, ChatGPT, but a surprisingly good question.

How the arts sector answers this question will shape how society frames AI-generated work. Cultural institutions such as museums, concert halls, theatres and opera houses help define what society values and what endures.

Even before this year’s Whitney Biennial, museums and theatres were already exhibiting or presenting AI-generated work. Refik Anadol’s “Unsupervised” was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York in 2022. Installed in MoMA’s lobby, it used a custom AI model trained on MoMA’s public collection data. The system continuously generated abstract, shifting visual forms based on patterns it learned from more than 200 years of art history. The work ran in real time and responded to environmental data like sound and light in the space.

In November 2025, The Clifton Players presented “Man vs. Machine,” a theatre production built around six original one-act plays. Four were written by humans, including acclaimed playwright Lee Blessing. Two were generated by artificial intelligence. The audience wasn’t told which was which, and the reveal didn’t come until the final performance, turning each night into an experiment in perception and authorship.

AI, like the camera, ultimately comes down to intent and outcome. As a photographer who considers herself an artist, I take thousands of images I would never classify as art: vacation selfies, photos of things I’m supposed to remember but forget to ever look at again, adorable pictures of my cat, Dizzy. AI outputs are not always going to be art, but artists will confront and explore AI in brilliant ways, and the sector will need to be prepared to play our part when they do.

The pressing questions are how we present the work, how we document it and its influences, and how we conserve it. How do we make space for AI-influenced work without displacing traditional artists or alienating those who choose not to use it? How do we, as a sector, begin to establish shared guidelines around AI-generated content? The initial step to answering these questions is defining the role AI plays in the creative process.

Is it a tool, a medium or a collaborator?

Historically, if something is a tool, we do not list it in the program or on the title card. If something is a medium, we usually do. If someone is a collaborator, we provide context through an artist statement or a biography. AI does not fit neatly into any of those categories.

AI is essentially a tool that has its own creative process. If AI interprets prompts and makes generative choices, then its internal logic becomes part of the overall creative process. We learn from knowing that a painting or a choreographed dance drew from West African influences or is a reinterpretation of a historical piece. AI is drawing from these same influences and reinterpreting historical pieces in its outputs. Not disclosing those influences and references diminishes our opportunities to learn from the art we experience.

Understanding how the system arrived at its output helps us identify what sources it is drawing from, what cultural references are being echoed and whether we are unintentionally presenting something that closely replicates existing or copyrighted work. Creative works that include AI-generated content could include a brief AI statement, similar to an artist statement, that discloses process and intention. A standard prompt might ask the system to outline how it arrived at the outcome and what influences shaped it. This would bring clarity to issues around authorship, autonomy and identity that are currently being blurred by the introduction of AI-generated artworks into the art world.

Jeni Barton is Director, Digital Products at ArtsWave. The monthly Arts and Tech column explores the benefits and challenges of technology in the arts.