Over half of the respondents said, Yes, the arts will be an important part of peoples’ lives. Just a small percentage thought, No, they would be of minor interest with people spending little time on them. Respondent talked about new forms of art as well as the impact of AI on art
Comments are grouped into three parts: Art and Life, Lack of Interest, and The Future.
Art and Life
A two-thirds positive view of the scientific community isn’t actually a great result, especially when even these hopeful people express conditional needs. Respondents think the scientists are themselves responsible for being less widely accepted and respected.
A frequent comment is that the scientists need to communicate more clearly and more often with the public rather than focusing on their internal communities.
This first group of respondents think art has an important role in our society and our lives and, more importantly, will not be severely restricted in the future.
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What is life without art? Netherlands
If we evolve as a society it will be an increasing important part of our lives. United States
Given humans communicated through art long before they did through words, art will continue to challenge our paradigms, worldviews and mindsets for years to come. Australia
It will always be a flux. Arts evolve to retain relevance. They are important in our lives and people will continue to seek it out, but in changing ways. Australia
Arts will become an important source of inspiration and innovation – especially because AI will take a huge part of standard tasks this will enable more people to re-focus on the human strengths. Germany
People enjoy arts, it is part of human beings as hobbies, as meditation, as relaxation, as having fun. This will never be minor. Netherlands
Yes it is part of community life and it will connect people. South Africa
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Arts will become more important. Without the ability to appreciate art, we will lose the competency to deal with the abstract, weaken our creative skill sets, and invent new things. BTW, this is not an Art v STEM war. It’s both/and. I’m amazed when I see an iPad Drawing program being used to create an incredible image. Then I’m blown away to understand the mathematical coding that lies underneath each stroke of the Apple Pencil. Canada
The pandemic made people realize the real value of art and entertainment and this will continue. India
Art gives meaning and an understanding to lives, it helps create a connection of awareness and reflection. Australia
Without the arts, we are shells of what we can be. To explore the arts will keep us grounded and remind us of the richness of the world we live in. United States
Unless we reach climate reckoning, which is not out the realm of possibility, we are no longer a subsistence society that has to keep its main focus on survival. So arts will play a huge role in our lives and continue to be a primary form of expressing the human condition. Canada
If people end up with more free time on their hands due to technological advances driving efficiencies (and maybe a 4-day work week) I would like to hope that people would move to spending time on creative endeavors. I sure know I would. United States
It’s one of those things we will be doing with our time. Be creative. Like playing chess even though we know that computers are better at it. We keep doing it. The same goes for arts. Music. Painting. Dancing. It’s what we can do and enjoy ourselves. Netherlands
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I hope philosophy and arts will flourish; we will need them in a technologically driven world. Ireland
I hope Arts will become more and more important, as we need a counterbalance. Netherlands
The arts and humanities inform our society constantly. It’s what makes us human. Netherlands
I believe people will increasingly explore art as a tangible form of expression in an overly digital world. United States
As social isolation in communities increases people will need somewhere and something to increase the richness of their lives, I suspect that the arts will factor largely in this. (what I do not know is what will be producing the art – people or AI like models??!!) United Kingdom
We need the arts more now than ever. We get so consumed with our electronics, we fail to see or appreciate the beauty around us. United States
This may be aspirational ! I think we will crave and need the arts as the world becomes more and more a digital life. United States
There is growing interest in the arts among people. However, retaining the diversity will be key. Or else, we could be swamped by mono-culture. India
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More importance because of more time and the insight that we need as the impulses for our development (social, economics etc.). Germany
It might actually go up, pandemic has made people reevaluate work, life, purpose and the next generations more so are not going to be tied down into typical IT, Finance jobs. United Kingdom
What I believe will happen is that the arts will go through a renaissance because of technology. what i mean by that is technology offers a structural lift to everyday creativity (everyone can be better) which will in turn make the best-of-the-best up their game and the best will always be better than the mediocre, but the best will be really, really interesting. United States
To paraphrase Churchill, without art, what are we striving for? It will always be important. It could be important to even more people if we eradicated poverty and hunger. Belgium
Same as today … it will be important for certain segments of our society and more important for elderly people. Belgium
Lack of Interest or Lack of Means
These respondents think art will have a much diminished role in our lives going into the future. Many of these with the more pessimistic view, don’t decry the need for art in society, but think the availability will be lacking, due to limited free time or restricted funding.
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Again, the future will be uneven. Artists will always live on the edges of society. Canada
It’s not by accident that we have the term “starving artist”. United States
Given that movies and series are not in the list (which will continue growing in popularity), I believe arts will be rather minor… (unfortunately). Belgium
While I think Arts are critical and should be an important part of our lives, the mass’s unwillingness to invest in personal growth and appreciation for the talent of others will be a problem that only grows larger. United States
This is something that I’ve long been watching and realizing that the arts are somewhat of an edge interest and not the broader interest I had long thought it was. It has long depended on a very fragile system of support that has been in a somewhat tight relationship with older traditional money / wealth for support. Public schooling doesn’t focus much on the arts with budget cuts over the last decades and education and understanding that leads to appreciation is losing the foundation that leads to its support. United States
Importance will continue to fade against daily struggles in an increasingly hostile environment. Indonesia
Tech embedded arts will flourish. Rest will show a gradual decline. India
The arts will remain important but will be less valued as an end in themselves in a technical and mercantile society. France
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It shouldn’t but I fear it will be- the state will withdraw from subsidizing this and it will be reliant on rich patrons. People will be trapped in the TV and people will be delighted as they were in Roman times- Panem et Circenses keeps people under control and not questioning. United Kingdom
Art preservation, education is so underfunded today, so I believe it will have less impact on people’s lives overall. United States
Hard times are in front of mankind considering economical and security issues. In such times, arts are not considered priority. Czech Republic
With more unemployment, a UBI that achieves some financial stability, people will have more time for arts. They will include more generative AI, so masses will flock to cheaper, entertainment art and minority will engage with traditional art. Netherlands
I still believe it will continue to be an important part of peoples’ lives as it is really what makes us human. Of course, arts are not accessible everywhere in the world depending of the political environment and the level of wealth. This is what’s need to be improved: access for all. France
Again only for the super talented or the rich. Much like now!! Switzerland
I study the arts so would love to see the arts become more important. Sadly, if people struggle to live then their focus often is far from the arts. The arts can be seen as the domain of very few. United Kingdom
Difficult question. If society has evolved to a desired state of giving everybody a good life (not necessarily in terms of money) then the arts can be very important. If society is composed of a few winners and many losers then drugs might be more popular than arts. United States
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More leisure time should drive an interest in the arts. United Kingdom
People will want to spend more time on the arts but they will be given less opportunity to do so as employment opportunities for Arts will be replaced with AI and outsourced overseas and free time will be more limited because of greater work responsibilities. Australia
I think that the pop culture will always play a role, but in a world where we’re only rushing, real art has no room to grow. Also, the art needs to pay the bills nowadays. So where is the real freedom to just create and go with the flow? Netherlands
Not much change, overall, that I can see happening. If we’re able to get more free time due to work changing because of AI and technology, then we may be able to create and enjoy art more. However, if we are unable to process that change well and simply use commoditized art as a distraction rather than an exploration of humanity, then the importance of art (in a classic sense) will diminish. United States
Getting to the Future
While the entire question of the Arts is about the future, this group comments mainly on where art should be going, and how to get there.
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The one thing I see with art is how AI will do away with true human creativity. If everyone knows the arts are based on some algorithm spewing something out, then interest in it will die quickly. Austria
As the virtual life becomes more relevant, the traditional form of art will lose importance to different ways of art expression. Brazil
Expressive arts are still embraced and taught in school, traditional arts I believe are dying out, why draw a picture by hand when you can generate a masterpiece through technology? United Kingdom
As tech and AI grow, the need for more physical art will grow. Denmark
With AI true creativity will become more important of which humans are the creators. Netherlands
The question here is how to ensure that creation and art will still be meaningful in front of a massive industrialization of the production of content through automatization ? France
People will value art created by actual humans much more once the creative space is flooded with AI content. United States
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Think this question needs to be focused on what “art” will look like, with the AI tools I see new forms of visual arts evolving and they may supplement the traditional formats. United States
Art and aesthetics will increasingly become important to everyone’s lives. Design is essential and has been moving into several new fields, making products more attractive to customers. Gaming and movies provide examples of this growth. United States
Forms of arts will change over time, it always has, but it will not disappear. It is one of the essences of what makes us human. Netherlands
As digitalization continues, we will appreciate more art and things that can come in touch with our other senses and feeling. Sweden
I feel escape/entertainment will be important. India
Entertainment will be important. Can’t call it art. India
People will always need a release for stress levels and an opportunity to socialize. Belgium
Old visual art will become less important, but music will still remain an integral part of our lives. South Africa
I think (and hope) that interest in the arts will increase. What will distinguish human creations from AI creations? I’m not sure. I expect we will see many hybrid forms. United States
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Definitely will play a big role, especially seeing the current interest of Gen Z in the art collection. South Africa
With the advances in AI, we are seeing how art can be reimagined in our own vision now. It won’t be long before we will be able to buy a piece of art that we customize to our own liking instead. Canada
Entertainment and the arts will increasingly be an important part of people’s lives depending on which part of the world they live in. The West scoring much higher than Africa and Asia. India
Important is different from accessible or available. You only have to look to the dismantling of arts programs in schools, especially in the USA to anticipate generations of people with no easy connection to the Arts. Canada
As long as global peace continues, arts will flourishing together with the economic growth. China
I think technology will open up the arts to a lot more people, bringing capability to the masses. This may be detrimental for the traditional artists who will become more like the specialist artisans in trades in their own field. Art is connected to humanity so it will always be there, and technology will increase the content (including art) in a dramatic way in terms of volume and customization. Australia