Lecture on November 19, 2025
AI, Art and Authorship. Perspectives From Ethics and Aesthetics
Prof. Dr. Catrin Misselhorn (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen)
About the lecture [poster, pdf]
The talk explores the question of whether Artificial Intelligence (AI) can truly create art, or if there is an essential “human factor” in art production. Against the background of AI’s growing capabilities, traditional concepts in art theory like authorship are reconsidered. It is argued that authorship is a necessary condition for art, while aesthetic responsibility is at least a necessary condition for authorship of artworks. Although AI can function as an aesthetic agent, it cannot bear aesthetic responsibility. Therefore, it can neither on its own nor in cooperation with humans be the author of artworks. However, AI is able to produce objects that are in their manifest properties indistinguishable from works of art, I will speak of “fake art.” It will be shown to what extent the massive occurrence of AI-generated fake art has a detrimental effect on art practice.
About the speaker
Catrin Misselhorn is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Göttingen. Prior to her current position she held the chair for Philosophy of Science and Technology and was director of the Institute of Philosophy at the University of Stuttgart. She was visiting professor at the University of Zurich, the Humboldt University Berlin and the University of Tübingen and was a Feodor Lynen Research Fellow at the Center of Affective Sciences in Genevea, the Collège de France and the Institut Jean Nicod for Cognitive Sciences in Paris. She was elected to the Lower Saxony Academy of Sciences and Humanities and belongs to the board of directors of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. She has published numerous articles in renowned international journals and a number of books including: Collective Agency and Cooperation in Natural and Artificial Systems. Explanation, Implementation and Simulation. Philosophical Studies Series (122) 2015, Grundfragen der Maschinenethik (Basic Issues in Machine Ethics) Stuttgart 2018, 5th ed. 2022; Künstliche Intelligenz und Empathie (Artificial Intelligence and Empathy) Stuttgart 2021, 3rd ed. 2024; Künstliche Intelligenz – das Ende der Kunst? (Artificial Intelligence – the End of Art?) Stuttgart 2023, 2nd ed. 2024; Emotional Machines – New Perspectives on Affective Computing and Emotional Human-Machine Interaction, ed. with T. Poljansek; T. Störzinger & M. Klein Wiesbaden 2023; Aesthetics, Digitalization, and Artificial Intelligence, ed. with L.Schmalzried, Paderborn 2025 (in print).
photo credit: Misselhorn, cropped
Wednesday, 19. November 2025, 18:15-19:45 (CET)
Address for joining us on-site:
Flügelbau Ost, 2. OG, Raum O221
Edmund-Siemers-Allee 1
20146 Hamburg
