Creative Therapeutic

Research Article

Exploring the Acceptability of AI-Generated Art in a Dementia Care Setting: A Pilot Study

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https://doi.org/10.54963/ct.v1i1.2372
Mukaetova-Ladinska, E. B., & Harwood, T. (2025). Exploring the Acceptability of AI-Generated Art in a Dementia Care Setting: A Pilot Study. Creative Therapeutic, 1(1), 53–63. https://doi.org/10.54963/ct.v1i1.2372
Volume 1 Issue 1 (2025)
Copyright (c) 2025 Elizabeta B. Mukaetova-Ladinska, Tracy Harwood
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Authors

  • Elizabeta B. Mukaetova-Ladinska

    Department of Psychology and Visual Sciences, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
    The Evington Centre, Leicester General Hospital, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, Leicester LE5 4QF, UK
  • Tracy Harwood

    The Evington Centre, Leicester General Hospital, Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, Leicester LE5 4QF, UK

Received: 23 February 2025; Revised: 14 April 2025; Accepted: 29 May 2025; Published: 23 June 2025

Art enhances both cognitive and non-cognitive, behavioral abilities in people with dementia, as well as overall wellbeing. The use of contemporary art technologies, i.e., creative artificial intelligence (AI), in people with dementia has not been researched to date. We studied the reception of AI art by Gene Kogan, created using Google Deep Dream and Inceptionism algorithms, installed for 4 weeks in a memory clinic. The study consisted of an observational arm of 2,200 service users and their carers attending the memory clinic. Their comments were collected informally by clinical staff. Only three service users (0.1364% visitors) reported an adverse reaction to the exhibited AI-generated art. 17 people (two people with dementia, three carers and 12 healthcare professionals) took part in the quantitative arm using a questionnaire containing the PANAS scale to evaluate perception of and responses to the AI art by older people. Video AI art was well accepted by service users, their carers and healthcare professionals - it resulted in positive emotions and a low rate of negative side effects as demonstrated with the PANAS emotional scale. The uncanny valley effects previously reported in medical studies using assistive technology were not observed, suggesting that older adults irrespective of memory problems may have a distinct acceptance of new emerging technologies. AI art perception was like that of classical art and suggests that AI art has a potential to be used in dementia care, similarly to that of classical and contemporary art.

Keywords:

Artificial Intelligence Art Dementia Service Users Carers

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