AI-Generated Art and the Bourdieusian Conundrum of Aesthetic Boundaries

This paper examines the conundrum posed by the rise of AI-generated art in the field of aesthetics, specifically in relation to Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of cultural fields and the construction of taste. In the context of contemporary art, the emergence of artificial intelligence tools—such as generative adversarial networks (GANs), Artbreeder, and DALL·E—complicates traditional divisions between highbrow and lowbrow art, the sacred and the profane. Drawing on Bourdieu's notions of habitus, field, illusio, and doxa, this paper argues that AI-generated art embodies a new kind of artificial taste, challenging the conventions of artistic originality, authenticity, and value. By discussing key examples of AI-generated art, this paper explores how artificial intelligence reshapes the dynamics of artistic production and consumption.