Right — totally agree. AI isn’t singularly novel within the expanding world of digital art, and I really appreciate you engaging so thoughtfully here. It’s rare to have this kind of exchange 🙂 On generative art, there’s a ton of remarkable work out there. Personally, I love pieces like @zancan’s Monoliths, @toThePixel’s Busy, and @Kitel87’s Fields of the Abandoned Homeland. The main challenge, in my experience, is that when you show generative art to people outside the web3/crypto-art worlds, it can feel a bit too academic to immediately resonate. That’s not a criticism - I collect and admire the form myself - but it may limit its mainstream cultural reach for now. As for networked art, I think Spratt and the 6529 Memes project are pushing the most interesting boundaries in that space, in completely different ways. Both are carving out new conceptual terrain and I’m cheering both. I already have a few Memes, Spratt’s on my short list too… though the entry price is brutal 😂 But back to AI art and the “slop” concern: I actually see this as a transitional phase. It’s similar to what happened when everyone suddenly got a decent camera in their pocket. The early flood of low-quality content eventually gave way to a much higher standard as audiences became visually literate and creators pushed the medium forward. The same dynamic will play out here. The key difference in my eyes is that the best AI artists are already light years ahead of the noise. Take Alkan Avcıoğlu for example: he’s making his third appearance at Paris Photo next week, this time in collaboration with Edward Burtynsky, one of the most critically acclaimed photographers alive and a fixture at the Guggenheim, MoMA, and the Met. Artists of that caliber don’t collaborate with “slop”. Point being there’s no need to wait. There’s already *real* signal here if you’re willing to look closely. 😃

I’m a big fan of @Kitel87 Fields of the Abandoned Homeland. It’s a generative collection about having to leave Ukraine at the start of the war.