Value of classical artistic creativity in the context of digitalization and the spread of artificial intelligence technologies

the article examines the phenomenon of the increasing cultural and artistic value of classical art in the context of digitalization and the rapid spread of artificial intelligence technologies. It analyzes the paradox of the contemporary artistic process, in which the growing accessibility and algorithmization of visual production generate the opposite effect – an intensified interest in authentic, material, and handcrafted creativity. Drawing on Walter Benjamin’s concept of the “aura of the work of art,” Martin Heidegger’s ideas on the essence of artistic creation, and Jean Baudrillard’s theory of simulacra, the study reveals the mechanisms of preservation and reinterpretation of the value of classical art within new cultural and technological realities. Particular attention is paid to the issues of authenticity, authorship, corporeality, and the “human trace” in the artistic image, as well as to the transformation of aesthetic perception criteria in the age of AI-generated art. The research also explores historical and philosophical parallels between previous technological revolutions – such as photography and printing – and current digital processes, demonstrating that each new means of artistic reproduction has strengthened the importance of uniqueness and manual craftsmanship. In its pedagogical dimension, the article emphasizes the need to preserve foundational academic disciplines – drawing, painting, and composition – as the basis for developing the humanistic and aesthetic competencies of future art educators. It concludes that classical art, embodying individual experience, artisanal virtuosity, and the spiritual effort of the human creator, in the context of digitalization and the mass proliferation of algorithmically generated images, acquires not only the status of a symbolic counterbalance to technological art but also serves as a medium for preserving cultural memory, humanistic values, and the meaningful dimension of artistic creativity. Classical art thus becomes an essential means of maintaining the connection between humanity and its creative nature, affirming the value of personal experience, manual labor, and spiritual depth within the structure of 21st-century visual culture.

classical art, digitalization, artificial intelligence, visual culture, art education, design, artistic value, aesthetics of the digital era