Will we need artists?

It all started with NFTs, remember? Now, enter AI!

The rise of NFTs and the so-called “crypto art,” in the early 2020-s, has transformed the creative landscape, offering unprecedented opportunities for artistic expression. NFTs allowed for the creation of unique digital assets, unlocking new revenue streams for creators and new forms of engagement for collectors. Overnight, everyone could join the party and become an artist or a ​​​​mecenate.

However, this revolutionary shift was not without its challenges. As the market expanded rapidly, significant questions arose about the environmental, economic, ethical, and cultural implications of this new ecosystem. Understanding the intersection of opportunities and challenges is crucial to shaping the right market for arts – yes, it’s ok to use the word “market,” which needs to be innovative and responsible.

NFTs operate at the frontier of decentralization, offering autonomy and security. Yet, their decentralized nature also poses dilemmas around governance, accountability, and accessibility. While some see them as a democratizing force for the art world, others argue that they exacerbate inequities, create noise – giving access to speculators and fraudsters – and deepen the environmental crisis. Then, what happens when you add to the mix the unstoppable rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its large language models in its generative manifestations? The goal of this short piece is to explore the tensions within tech and propose pathways to harmonize innovation with broader societal goals, while protecting the role that the arts should play within our communities.

Lots of challenges 

Could the advent and mass adoption of exponential technologies jeopardize the survival of the arts? Can we truly afford a democratization of creativity? Will we need professional artists, when everyone’s capabilities will be augmented by Blockchain and AI? Before diving into the “reason why” of the arts, let’s look at the challenges created by technology. Yes, progress always has a price, and a cost.

• Environment: Blockchain, the backbone of NFTs, is infamous for its high energy consumption. Systems like proof-of-work (Bitcoin) consume significant amounts of electricity, augmenting global carbon emissions and raising concerns about long-term sustainability. Transitioning to more energy-efficient consensus (proof-of-stake) or using latest generation blockchains, which have higher throughput and hybrid public/private set-up, represents a promising avenue. However, the issue goes beyond consumption. The extraction of raw materials required for Blockchain hardware, including rare earth elements, adds another layer of environmental and geopolitical complexity. The same goes for AI models, which need to be trained on vast amounts of data and then queried for creative tasks. It takes hundreds of million dollars to create a model, and continuous investments and energy consumption to maintain it and make it accessible to B2B and B2C clients. Huge computational power is needed to cater to a world that needs personalized content and transparency. A global effort to establish agreed standards for sustainable Blockchain and AI operations is urgently needed.
• Regulation: The NFT market is highly volatile, creating uncertainty for artists, investors, and collectors alike. This instability is exacerbated by the lack of regulatory frameworks. In many jurisdictions, NFTs belong to gray areas, which not only hamper growth, but also expose stakeholders to market manipulation and speculative bubbles. Establishing adaptive laws that protect all actors, without stifling innovation is a pressing challenge. Lessons from established cryptocurrency regulations can inform approaches that strike a balance between innovation and stability. Intellectual property is even more challenged by the advent of AI, which utilizes public and private information to saturate any market with plausible creations en masse, minimizing the need for maestro-s to contribute to businesses and public sectors, as a machine could, potentially, feed new ideas consistently, cheaply, with scale and all around the clock. What is the role of the arts in a world where tech creates, records and protects, via Blockchain, the fastest and most prolific creative hands, which are most likely to belong to AI?
• Ethics: The decentralized nature of NFTs redistributes power and control but raises significant ethical questions. How can benefits be equitably shared when wealth and influence are often concentrated in the hands of a few major players? Issues such as fair compensation for artists and equitable access to NFT platforms are critical to ensuring a more inclusive ecosystem. Insights from other decentralized systems can guide the development of governance models that uphold equity, while preserving the autonomy of Blockchain-based platforms. Now, the hard truth is that Blockchain communities are highly concentrated (controlled by the so-called “whales”), with the Top 50 chains in the hands of the richest portion of the planet. The same thing goes for AI development, which is highly concentrated in the hands of a few tech giants, and whose applications can be easily leveraged to understand deeply and influence the behavior of global communities, perpetrating inequalities and maintaining the status quo. Artists are usually the only independent voice and conscience of our being together. They survive because the arts carved for themselves a space, which is free from external pressures. Will we control this sacred space in a digital first world?
• Access: As NFTs increasingly function as cultural artifacts, they play a dual role in preserving heritage and promoting commodification. While they offer opportunities for artists to reach global audiences, the high cost of entry and technical barriers limit participation from the periphery of the world. Paper, for example, has a deeper penetration than the internet. Additionally, the monetization of cultural heritage through NFTs risks reducing the artistic effort into mere financial value. Prioritizing projects that emphasize cultural preservation over profit can help NFTs align with broader societal and human values. When we add AI to the mix, the worst-case scenario looks extremely bleak. Independent AI agents will shortly be able to create artifacts with unprecedented speed and scale, outshining humans and grabbing eyeballs and attention with unseen magnitude. AI can be trained to perfect and repeat anyone’s craft, while humans excel at dissonance and disobedience. Limited access to the artistic playground could turn into no access, as machines have an unfair advantage versus humans. They don’t wear out and don’t need to feed families.
• Fragmentation: The decentralized ethos of Blockchain often leads to fragmentation, with stakeholders and jurisdictions adopting divergent approaches. This disjointedness creates inefficiencies and stifles collaboration, ultimately hindering the development of coherent global strategies. By learning from industries that have successfully addressed similar fragmentation, the NFT ecosystem can reach greater coordination while maintaining its decentralized essence. Regional approaches to AI are also very different, putting at risk access to vital services for those markets where regulation may turn out to be tighter, thus fostering inequalities. Blockchain is still niche, after fifteen years from Satoshi’s original paper. The rapid progression of AI, especially in the US and China, can create pockets of progress, and especially leave behind territories who are more protective of the rights of their individuals, markets and public constituencies. Fragmentation is poised to become a new system of casts and tiered communities.

Protect your craft: NFTs can help 

Should we protect what we craft? Yes, we should, and Blockchain is best at doing exactly that. The future of NFTs lies in striking a balance between innovation and responsibility. Stakeholders must address the multifaceted challenges outlined above through a combination of targeted policies and collective action. Transparency is fundamental: all players can now trust the integrity of transactions. Incentivizing the adoption of sustainable features, through tech innovation, tax breaks or subsidies, can reduce environmental impact, while mechanisms for true community-driven governance can foster more equitable and inclusive practices. International cooperation is essential to harmonize efforts and establish global benchmarks that accommodate local specificities. At the same time, supporting artists through accessible platforms and smart contracts that guarantee fair compensation can empower creators to thrive.

Policy recommendations must serve as the bridge between the challenges and opportunities of NFTs. Mandating transparency and authenticity via Blockchain can rebuild trust, while sustainability incentives can accelerate the shift toward greener technologies. Empowering creators through automated royalty systems ensures that artists share in the long-term success of their work. Additionally, fostering participatory governance and building strong, collaborative communities are critical to innovation and resilience. Finally, global cooperation offers the best path forward for tackling regulatory inconsistencies and cross-border issues. NFTs will redefine artistic and technological paradigms, but their promise will only be realized if they are developed with equity, sustainability, and cultural integrity. By learning from successes and failures of other industries, and fostering a spirit of collaboration, stakeholders can shape an NFT ecosystem that contributes to social and cultural progress while mitigating risks. The road ahead is challenging but it offers an unparalleled opportunity to harness innovation for the collective good.

SOS: human artists needed! 

Blockchain protects the “work,” if we grant access to everyone, and can protect the arts with sustainable, transparent and regulated NFTs. Global standards in compensation and smart contracts will secure fair compensations for all actors along the “​​​​food” chain. Now, there is a subtle and dangerous side of the debate around tech, which comes from the fact that we love the “work” more than we love the “workers” behind it. We should discuss how to pay and support “genius,” which is the mavericks taking responsibility for a risky move.

Creators use coding and tech today. A slippery question is rather: do we need artists? We have this doubt deep down, let’s be honest. Could there be a scenario where we get rid of all creative hands and finally control their rebel heads? Does creativity have a real impact on hard core business? If it does, we can’t often stand disruption or objections. In the public arena, are we truly able to stomach divergence and embrace the complexity of our identities and cultures? Do we really want critical consciences spread all over our org charts and communities? Are we hiddenly hoping AI, in the end, will give us better intellectual output, on demand, aligned with our private interests and virtually at zero cost?

Here is the thing. AI will boost creativity, or at least improve the “here and now,” which is mostly dull. That’s the “wow” effect that is infesting the current media debate. Genius and risky decisions will remain rare. Blockchain can lock-in creations and secure distribution of rewards for artists and fans. But creators will survive, if we pay them and let them challenge status quo. They will continue to be the ones able to imagine a different future, inside and outside companies and society. The arts shouldn’t be afraid of tech. It should fear humans, companies and boards, when they overpay CEOs and politicians for their average management and sole focus on their private agenda, and it should fear Big Tech, which will continue to extract value from the world’s best work.

Will we need artists in the future? Yes, desperately. Will artists use exponential technologies to express themselves? Yes, and hopefully to get paid better versus today for their hard work. Will technology wipe out artists? Not necessarily and not by design, unless humans want to have complacent craft at zero costs. Then, NFTs and AI will be the least of our problems in a society locked-in into a plausible, yet consensual, cultural cage.

Written by Francesco Pagano in collaboration with Luca Baraldi, author and advisor.
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