AI vs. Human Paintings? Deciphering Public Interactions and Perceptions towards AI-Generated Paintings on TikTok

With the development of generative AI technology, a vast array of AI-generated paintings (AIGP) have gone viral on social media like TikTok. However, some negative news about AIGP has also emerged. For example, in 2022, numerous painters worldwide organized a large-scale anti-AI movement because of the infringement in generative AI model training. This event reflected a social issue that, with the development and application of generative AI, public feedback and feelings towards it may have been overlooked. Therefore, to investigate public interactions and perceptions towards AIGP on social media, we analyzed user engagement level and comment sentiment scores of AIGP using human painting videos as a baseline. In analyzing user engagement, we also considered the possible moderating effect of the aesthetic quality of Paintings. Utilizing topic modeling, we identified seven reasons, including hyperrealistic quality, ambivalent reactions, perceived theft of art, etc., leading to negative public perceptions of AIGP. Our work may provide instructive suggestions for future generative AI technology development and avoid potential crises in human-AI collaboration.