what is the difference between art made by robots and human

Art, Machine, and the Human Condition: A Philosophical Inquiry

Civilization is the result of tiny intentional actions by our ancestors to create lines and shapes. We humans made everything, including written language and all tangibles and tools, from the four basic lines (vertical, horizontal, diagonal, and curved) and the three geometric designs (squares, triangles, and circles). Drawing and painting made our world and psychologically developed us into better people. Art has always stood as one of humanity’s most intimate expressions—a bridge between the inner world and the outer one. Shop men's fashion suits and blazers. Go here

 As machines begin to create images, music, and texts with astonishing speed and precision, a new question arises: What separates art made by machines from art made by human hands? The answer needs more time and research, but it happened that I had the same question in mind when my jewelry supplier told me that they are using computer designs and 3D printers to make my cufflinks. Previously they would make everything with hands. I truly appreciated the beauty of their craftsmanship. However, I now had the opportunity to create designs using a machine at a lower cost and to compare their quality and beauty. 

After I had the machine-made designs completed and thoroughly compared them, I found that the machine-made version appeared too mechanical, with overly straight lines and sharp corners, making it less visually appealing for prolonged viewing. I would get bored quickly with the machine-made design, but the handmade one held my attention longer because it was more engaging. I could fix some of the issues I saw, but I wasn't sure if the problem was the sharp lines or pointed corners.

Handmade Angelino cufflinks

Cufflink made by computer design and 3D printing 

Textiles used to be made by hand before the Industrial Revolution. Today over 95% of the textiles are made with power loom machines. We can create any designs with accuracy and quality that hand looms cannot reach. Today handloom textiles mostly are made in India and Bangladesh, where labor still is cheap. Most are made with thicker yarn, which is less dense than what machines can do. 

I have experience in making handloom cotton textiles in India as well as machine-made cotton, polyester, fine silk brocade, and Jacquard fabrics in China and Korea. With the technology available in the industry, I believe machines are producing the finest textiles ever for their quality, luster, and durability. Here I think machines enhanced the end result.

However, I believe we should not undervalue human craftsmanship at this stage, as further study and research are needed; in the case of carpets, machine-made versions couldn't replace handmade ones. Handmade carpets are still king of the market; their value goes up as they age, and they last for hundreds of years. Machine-made carpets are used in homes that want beautiful carpets but cannot afford handmade ones. 

Machine-made carpets are the product of industrial precision—fast, uniform, and efficient. They offer affordability and consistency, but they lack the subtle irregularities that give a piece soul. Their patterns are programmed, their knots identical, and their fibers treated to achieve the same predictable sheen. Machine carpets may appear flawless to the untrained eye, but their mechanical origin is often revealed by their very perfection.

Handmade carpets, by contrast, are living objects. Every knot carries the movement of a human hand, and every line reflects the maker’s rhythm, intention, and emotion. Natural dyes shift gently across the surface; wool or silk has a softness and depth no machine can replicate. Patterns may vary slightly, and colors may breathe and evolve—these nuances are the signature of authenticity.

Philosophically, a handmade carpet represents a dialogue that spans time, with the maker dedicating months and, usually, years to creating a single piece. 

A machine-made carpet is a product; a handmade carpet is a story.

What to Look For

If you are trying to distinguish between the two types of carpets:

• Back of the carpet: Handmade knots are slightly uneven, while machine-made ones look grid-like and perfect.

• Fringe: Handmade fringe is the extension of the warp threads; machine-made fringe is sewn on.

• Design precision: Machines create perfect repetition; handmade designs show organic variation.

• Sheen: Handmade silk or wool reflects light unevenly because fibers lie in different directions.

• Feel: Handmade carpets feel warmer, softer, denser, and more alive under the hand.

• Price & longevity: Handmade pieces increase in value and last generations; machine-made pieces are cheaper but disposable.

conclusion

At the core of human art is intention. Every stitch, every stroke of a brush, every line of poetry, and every sculpted form emerges from a mind shaped by memory, pain, joy, culture, and longing. Human beings do not merely create shapes; they express the weight of lived experience. A painter's past traumas, fleeting desires, future dreams, and present worries are always with them. These infuse the artwork with layers of meaning that transcend mere technique. The value of human art lies not only in the object itself but also in the consciousness that produced it.

Machines, by contrast, do not possess inner life. They do not remember, hope, fear, or dream. A machine can be trained on vast datasets and produce outputs that resemble human creativity, but resemblance is not identity. A machine’s creation is the recombination of existing patterns, filtered through algorithms that optimize for harmony, novelty, or probability. There is no intention behind its work—only operation. When a machine “creates,” it is not expressing a feeling but calculating a relationship. Its art may be aesthetically compelling, but it lacks the existential density that comes from being born of a lived perspective.

Emotion is another axis of distinction. Human art carries the traces of genuine emotional experience. A trembling line or dissonant chord can reveal the artist’s psychological state as surely as a spoken confession. This emotional authenticity invites the viewer into a shared human space—a communion of feeling. Machines can simulate emotional cues, but simulation is not sensation. They can reproduce what sorrow looks like in a database, but they cannot feel sorrow and therefore cannot infuse it with the irreducible vitality that defines true expression.

Moreover, human creativity includes the ability to break rules meaningfully. Artists rebel, experiment, and challenge conventions not merely to surprise, but to assert their identity and worldview. Machines can deviate from patterns, but they can't rebel because they have no patterns, but they can't rebel because they have no self.

Finally, art’s significance arises from its place in culture. Human art is inseparable from its historical and social context—it responds to events, shapes collective memory, and articulates the spirit of an era. Machine-generated art has no cultural standpoint; it borrows perspectives but originates none. It can reflect, but it cannot witness.

This argument is not to diminish the value of machine-made art. Rather, machine art expands the landscape of creation by offering humans new tools and new forms. But machines do not replace the artist; they amplify the possibilities available to the human imagination. The machine is the instrument—the human remains the musician.

In the end, the boundary between human and machine art is between existence and function. Machine art is a shadow of human creativity, remarkable and useful, but without a pulse. Human art is the imprint of life itself, a testament to the unrepeatable interiority of each person. And as long as humans feel, suffer, dream, and yearn, the art born from their hands will carry a meaning no machine can replicate.

Alex Angelino

Los Angeles, Fashion District.