On the Attribution of Aesthetic Subjecthood in AI-Generated Content

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence Generated Content (AIGC) has evolved from a technological experiment into a significant component of everyday aesthetic experience, raising the question of "who is the aesthetic subject"—a dilemma that cannot be adequately addressed within traditional frameworks of aesthetics. Centered on the concept of "aesthetic subjectivity attribution," this article examines how AIGC dissolves the conventional boundaries among author, artwork, and viewer. Drawing on philosophical resources such as relational aesthetics, posthuman subjectivity, and the turn to things, it proposes a reconceptualization of the "distributed aesthetic subject." The article argues that the aesthetic subject in AIGC is not a singular human or machine, but rather an emergent node shaped by algorithmic logic, human intentionality, and perceptual fields. Thus, its attribution should shift from "entity-based assignment" to "relationally empowered recognition." This study offers ontological foundations for updating aesthetic theory in the digital age.