The Future of Art Creation: The Current State of AI-Generated Artworks

The Current Situation of AI Art

Artificial intelligence has rapidly evolved in recent months. A multitude of AI tools were released to the public, and many have been exploring the potential of AI as a creative tool. In the art world, AI-generated art has becoming increasingly accepted and exhibited, with some works even fetching high prices at auctions. This has inevitably concerned a growing number of artists and institutions.

Why are Artists Upset About AI

Artists can find themselves upset at AI for a couple reasons. They may be concerned for their livelihood, the humanities of art, and the identity they have built.

Livelihood

Artists may feel that AI art threatens their livelihood as it takes away their work and source of income. Many have spent decades and thousands of dollars to hone in on their skills. They have put in significant amounts of work only to have “artists” who use AI create the same art work with much less effort. This also leads to into the worry of being replaced by AI and losing their jobs. To artists it feels like a slap in the face.

humanities

Some artists may feel that AI lacks the creativity and originality of human-created art. They believe that art should be purely of human effort, and use of AI takes away authenticity of the work. They argue that AI can only create based on the data it has been trained on, and because of this, cannot truly be creative in the same way that humans can.

Self-Identity

A major reason that many artist are against AI-generated art is because of their self-identity. Many artists feel robbed of their identity as the AI copies their style. AI “artists” will use the names of famous artists as inputs for their AI. Erin Hanson and Greg Rutkowski are some of the more well known examples. This lowers their value as anyone can replicate their unique style.

Response From Artist Community

Many artists have spoken out against AI-generated art. Recently, a major lawsuit against Stable Diffusion(AI model) was lead by 3 artists, Kelly McKernan, Karla Ortiz, and Sarah Andersen. This lawsuit is suing Stable Diffusion for training on billions of images taken from the internet without consent of the artists. This is an important case that will determine how AI is managed and the future of artists. Should Stable Diffusion win the case, many will be affected, not just artists. Writers, musicians, and other creatives will receive the same fate as them. If Stable Diffusion should lose, then artists will be able to retain their jobs and value.