such an entity [...] could only see UTILITY in art
I think you may be interpreting “utility” more narrowly than is customary here. The usual usage here is that “utility” is a catch-all term for everything one values. So if art provides me with wonder and humour and pathos and I value those (which, as it happens, it does and I do) then that’s positive utility for me. If art provides other people with wonder and humour and pathos and they like that and I want them to be happy (which, as it happens, it does and they do and I do) then that too is positive utility. If it provides other people with those things and it makes them better people and I care about that (which it does, and maybe it does, and I do) then that too is positive utility.
would be totally worthless to AI
To an AI that doesn’t care about those things, yes. To an AI that cares about those things, no. There’s no reason why an AI shouldn’t care about them. Of course at the moment we don’t understand them, or our reactions to them, well enough to make an AI that cares about them. But then, we can’t make an AI that recognizes ducks very well either.
I think you may be interpreting “utility” more narrowly than is customary here. The usual usage here is that “utility” is a catch-all term for everything one values. So if art provides me with wonder and humour and pathos and I value those (which, as it happens, it does and I do) then that’s positive utility for me. If art provides other people with wonder and humour and pathos and they like that and I want them to be happy (which, as it happens, it does and they do and I do) then that too is positive utility. If it provides other people with those things and it makes them better people and I care about that (which it does, and maybe it does, and I do) then that too is positive utility.
To an AI that doesn’t care about those things, yes. To an AI that cares about those things, no. There’s no reason why an AI shouldn’t care about them. Of course at the moment we don’t understand them, or our reactions to them, well enough to make an AI that cares about them. But then, we can’t make an AI that recognizes ducks very well either.