Keith Haring Unfinished Painting AI Controversy

Overview

Keith Haring Unfinished Painting AI Controversy refers to the reactions and discussions to a likely bait post that employed artificial intelligence to "finish" the famous 1989 artwork Unfinished Painting painting by the late artist Keith Haring, who died from AIDS shortly after the piece was done. The post from late December 2023 drew a wide variety of reactions as some people hated it while others felt it was a subversive statement against AI art. Many others also applauded it for being good bait.

Background

Keith Haring's Unfinished Painting has been highly regarded as a powerful work from the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. Haring was a famous street artist in the '80s with a distinct style. The work is a self-portrait and is actually complete, but was intentionally left to look "unfinished," as Haring knew he would not be able to complete it before his death and the empty space has been interpreted to represent the life Haring would not experience (shown below).^[1][2]

On December 31st, 2023, Twitter user @DonnellVillager^[3] responded to a tweet about the image by "finishing" it, writing, "The story behind this painting is so sad! Now using AI we can complete what he couldn't finish!" The tweet gained over 13,000 retweets and 31,000 likes, as well as over 9,000 quote tweets in two days (shown below). It is believed the post is bait intended to garner strong reactions from haters of AI art.^[4]

Developments

The tweet generated myriad impassioned responses as it spread over the following hours and days. For example, on December 31st, 2023, X / Twitter user @MeganRoseRuiz^[5] tweeted that DonnellVillager was "seriously deranged" and "vile," gaining over 10,000 retweets and 145,000 likes in two days (shown below, left). In the ensuing thread, she acknowledged she knew the tweet was bait but still felt it was in poor taste (shown below, right).

Others praised the post as a great example of bait, with some calling it one of the best tweets of 2023. Examples include December 31st tweets by X user @Brief88773020,^[6] gaining over 220 retweets and 5,300 likes in two days (shown below, left), and @SEBUTHEWORLD,^[7] gaining over 30 retweets and 200 likes in the same timeframe (shown below, right).

Others praised the post for being a subversive critique of AI art. Among these, X / Twitter user gr0ttw0^[8] posted a tweet on December 31st that gained over 4,000 retweets and 77,000 likes in two days (shown below, left). The same day, user @greenTetra_^[9] called the tweet a "work of art," gaining over 350 retweets and 7,500 likes in the same timeframe (shown below, right).

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References