Artificial intelligence program ignites debate over the nature of art

A piece of digital art that won a prize at the Colorado State Fair has reignited an old furor over what art is and how artists create in an authentic way. Jason Allen used an artificial intelligence program to generate an image titled, "Théâtre D'opéra Spatial," that evokes an opera scene in a science fiction setting. Several Bloomington-Normal artists do not seem to view the debate in an especially sanguinary way. The AI program artist in game designer Allen used doesn't involve any hands-on technique at all. The AI operates by turning words and text into image.