Defending humankind: Anthropocentric bias in the appreciation of AI art

We argue that recent advances of artificial intelligence (AI) in the domain art (e.g., music, painting) pose a profound ontological threat to anthropocentric worldviews because they challenge one last frontiers human uniqueness narrative: artistic creativity. Four experiments (N = 1708), including high-powered preregistered experiment, consistently reveal pervasive bias against AI-made artworks and shed light on its psychological underpinnings. The same artwork is preferred less when labeled as (vs. human-made) it perceived creative subsequently induces awe, an emotional response typically associated with aesthetic appreciation art. These effects are more pronounced among people stronger creativity beliefs (i.e., who believe uniquely characteristic). Systematic depreciation (assignment lower value, suppression reactions) appears serve shaken worldview whereby exclusively reserved for humans.