From a small community of pioneering artists who experimented with artificial intelligence (AI) in the 1970s, AI art has expanded, gained visibility, and attained socio-cultural relevance since the second half of the 2010s. Its topics, methodologies, presentational formats, and implications are closely related to a range of disciplines engaged in the research and application of AI. In this paper, I present a comprehensive framework for the critical exploration of AI art. It comprises the context of AI art, its prominent poetic features, major issues, and possible directions. I address the poetic, expressive, and ethical layers of AI art practices within the context of contemporary art, AI research, and related disciplines. I focus on the works that exemplify poetic complexity and manifest the epistemic or political ambiguities indicative of a broader milieu of contemporary culture, AI science, technology, economy, and society. By comparing, acknowledging, and contextualizing both their accomplishments and shortcomings, I outline the prospective strategies to advance the field. The aim of this framework is to expand the existing critical discourse of AI art with new perspectives which can be used to examine the creative attributes of emerging practices and to assess their cultural significance and socio-political impact. It contributes to rethinking and redefining the art/science/technology critique in the age when the arts, together with science and technology, are becoming increasingly responsible for changing ecologies, shaping cultural values, and political normalization.

翻译：自20世纪70年代一小群先驱艺术家尝试人工智能（AI）以来，AI艺术自2010年代后半叶起已逐步扩展、获得可见度并取得社会文化相关性。其主题、方法论、呈现形式及影响与一系列从事AI研究和应用的学科紧密相关。本文提出了一个用于批判性探索AI艺术的综合性框架，涵盖AI艺术的背景、其突出的诗学特征、主要议题及可能的发展方向。我将AI艺术实践的诗学、表达与伦理层面置于当代艺术、AI研究及相关学科的语境中进行探讨，重点关注那些体现诗学复杂性、并展现出认知或政治模糊性的作品——这些模糊性反映了当代文化、AI科学、技术、经济与社会的更广泛环境。通过比较、辨析并语境化其成就与不足，我勾勒出推动该领域发展的前瞻性策略。本框架旨在以新视角拓展现有的AI艺术批判话语，这些视角可用于审视新兴实践的创作属性，并评估其文化意义与社会政治影响。在艺术与科学技术共同对生态变革、文化价值观塑造及政治规范化日益负责的时代，本框架有助于重新思考和界定艺术/科学/技术批判。