Discerning Digital from Canvas: Investigating Visual Distinction between AI-Generated Art and Actual Art among Far Eastern University’s Institute of Architecture and Fine Arts (IARFA) and Non-IARFA Students

Artificial Intelligence is one of the current generation’s inventions that has been widely used. It has helped make lives easier, especially regarding appliances and business, and it has also altered various industries, including the arts. However, this development has sparked different perspectives among artists and non-artists. This study aims to evaluate how students, both artists, and non-artists, perceive the differences between real art and artificial intelligence-generated art. For this study, a total of fifty (50) students will be gathered, consisting of twenty-five (25) non-artist students from different courses and twenty-five (25) artist students from the IARFA Institute of Far Eastern University. The participants will receive the questionnaire via Messenger. The results of this study showed that the participants could differentiate actual art from AI-generated art based on their knowledge when evaluating artworks. Additionally, it demonstrates that artist students showed more confidence in determining actual artworks from AI-generated artworks due to their knowledge. While non-artists remain skeptical in determining artworks as they base their perception on how they see art.