Pushing Boundaries? Artists' worldview in the AI era from a relational work perspective

Abstract: The thesis discusses how visual artists negotiate the boundaries between their own creative work and AI-aided work, how they establish boundaries with other artists who use AI, and How the relationship between visual artists and clients is mediated in the market with the rising popularity of AI tools. The study found that most artists negotiate meanings to take a stance and, more often than not, are open to using AI if it becomes more ethical and transparent. The study also found a stigma associated with using AI in artistic practices and that artists’ collective expressions in the online environment tend to have a form of harsher criticism than individual expressions. Moreover, visual artists face precarity from budget, price, and efficiency in the economic sphere, but they generally express confidence in their social sphere. The study contributes to the literature on artists' relational work by highlighting the importance of the relational aspect and the dynamic in the tension between passion and commodity, moral gatekeeper and early adopter, and confidence and precarity.