In an era of profound technological empowerment, artificial intelligence—as an advanced form of objectified labor—is reshaping artistic production and challenging the subjective boundaries and evaluation systems of traditional art. Grounded in the Marxist theory of labor, this paper examines the practical scenarios of AI-empowered artistic production. It systematically distinguishes the subjective roles embodied in three production modes: tool-assisted, human-machine collaborative, and algorithmically autonomous generation, while clarifying the primacy of living labor over the auxiliary role of objectified labor. This study argues that artificial intelligence, as a core vehicle of technological empowerment, remains within the Marxist category of instruments of labor, representing a novel form of empowerment for artistic production. Consequently, this paper proposes a multi-dimensional evaluation system guided by “free activity”, rooted in the humanistic foundation of the “subjective injection of internal standards”, and measured by the “unity of aesthetics and history”. This framework provides theoretical support and practical insights for the standardized development and high-quality advancement of AI art.
Han Jiazhuang (Thu,) studied this question.