From making to judging: Art education in the AI era

Art creation becomes almost effortless with Generative AI. However, a bigger challenge arises at the heart of creativity: assessing the quality of what is produced and remaking it accordingly. This essay argues that the truly scarce and teachable skill in art education is not merely “production” but “critical-creative iteration”: the capacity to perceive quality, express that perception accurately in language, and feed it back through a loop of making, evaluating, and remaking. By linking Eisner's concepts of appreciation and criticism to Schön's reflection-in-action, we show that this capacity is undermined just as it becomes more important, since effortless making removes the occasion for deliberation. Therefore, the educator's role is not diminished but shifts towards cultivating it. The essay also draws implications for the future of curriculum, learning assessment, and cultural work, positioning AI as an instrument to be used effectively rather than resisted.