The aesthetics of Jean Baudrillard’s hyperreality in the context of generative artificial intelligence art

Abstract

The article provides a philosophical and aesthetic analysis of generative art created with the help of artificial intelligence (hereinafter referred to as AI) through the prism of Jean Baudrillard’s concept of hyperreality. The relevance of the study is due to the rapid spread of algorithmic artistic practices that transform traditional ideas about artistic image, authorship, and aesthetic experience in the digital environment. The purpose of the study is to identify the specifics of the ontological status of the generative artistic image and to analyze the transformation of aesthetic experience in the context of algorithmic art production through the prism of the theory of simulation and hyperreality. The research methodology is based on philosophical and aesthetic analysis, comparative and interpretative approaches. The methodological basis consists of the conceptual provisions of J. Baudrillard’s theory of simulation, as well as contemporary research on digital and generative art. The results of the study show that generative AI art functions as a form of hyperreality, within which the artistic image acquires autonomous symbolic status and loses its direct connection with extra-media reality. It is argued that algorithmic image production forms a closed simulation cycle in which visual persuasiveness and the media-mediated effect of hyperreality replace the traditional criteria of originality and authenticity. The transformation of the role of the author and the change in the mechanisms of aesthetic perception in the conditions of digital hyperreality are revealed. It is concluded that the application of the concept of hyperreality allows us to form a comprehensive theoretical model for analyzing generative AI art and to deepen our understanding of changes in aesthetic experience in contemporary digital culture. Prospects for further interdisciplinary research in the field of philosophy of art and digital aesthetics are outlined.