A Brief Outlook

This chapter asks if this study&s;s findings on the historical developments of computer graphics can possibly be insightful for the newer technology of generative artificial intelligence (AI). What might happen, if all those work steps that today comprise the image-making practice of computer graphics would one day be replaced by just one AI command – something that, for instance, artist Alan Warburton expects to happen eventually. Would this make the findings of this study obsolete? As this chapter demonstrates, this is probably not the case, simply because the newer technology answers to a similar mindset that computer graphics were developed with. Similarly, the possibility that generative AI might bring more diversity to digital imagery and thus a boost to creativity, because different styles can be tried out at the push of a button, is put to trial in this chapter by comparing the production aesthetics of generative AI to the inherently creative act of doodling. The practice-oriented research method of this study is therefore strongly relevant beyond the computer graphics technology. The method fundamentally changes how digital imagery can be viewed and decoded beyond the surface level, offering an innovative approach to assess the cultural heritage manifested inside even newer digital imaging technologies.