I'm sorry you have difficulty understanding that my premise that Andy Warhol used AI art tools wasnt literal. I will be much clearer and lay out the logic below...
In our universe, Andy Warhol traces a soup can and uses stamps, and other tools to produce a canvas that features an altered version of someone else's artistic output to craft his inner mental image of that work in a new context and calls it art.
In an alternate universe without an Andy Warhol, Evilguy Cringe uses iterative AI software, a silk screen printer, and a stolen base image of a soup can to produce a canvas that features an altered version of someone else's artistic output to craft his inner mental image of that work in a new context and calls it art.
Both canvases hang in a gallery and are indistinguishable from each other. How do you identify which one is art and which one is not?
1) Warhol’s soup cans were based on a product label that was not copyrighted, but trademarked (and possibly service marked)- IOW, different laws are involved. He projected, traced and hand painted those images in a way to mimic mass production (not someone else’s art). Over time, he used more machines to aid his production. If Evilguy Cringe does likewise via some kind of automation (including AI), it’s technically no different.
Artists like Mark Kostabi took Warhol’s methods and ultimately entirely removed himself from creating the physical art by hiring others to do it for him, instead becoming a performance artist who insulted his customers.
And Christian Seidler- creator of matricism (an evolution of pointillism)- also removed himself one step from the process by having UT create machines that would put onto canvases what he designed.
IOW, using mechanical processes is
not the problem.
2) if, OTOH, Evilguy Cringe’s process involves copying from copyrighted material
without permission, he runs the risk of legal action under those statutes. If he goes further and actually emulates another artist’s
distinctive style, that’s going to earn another layer of backlash (not necessarily lawsuits, but reputational harm).