AI art is a very controversial subject in the art community. For me, I see it as a very real threat to small artists that are trying to grow their clientele. Issues such as copyright, compensation and artists displacement are topics often brought up when having discussions about AI-generated art. In this article, we will gain a better understanding of what AI is, why artists are mad, and what are some of the ways that artists can protect themselves.
What is AI Art?
AI artwork is created with the assistance of artificial intelligence. This kind of artwork is made through prompts into a system. It uses algorithms that learns from data inputs to generate new work. Instead of the program learning or studying an artwork like a student, it instead traces over the artwork then claims it as its own. It will also cut, distort, and collage artwork from its libraries of human artwork to replicate styles and generate pieces. These decisions that the AI makes are vulnerable to inaccuracies due to planted or installed biases. While these artworks can be beautiful, it lacks that important emotional or cultural impact of a piece.
Why Are Artist so Mad
Though AI art can’t fully replace artists, artists feel devalued when they see these AI programs generate images with their artwork just to sell it at a lower price. When this is practiced against artists, they feel disrespected and feel the impact of the lowered income. Another point of contention for artists is that these programs will not ask permission to use their work when it makes these generated pieces. There is also a lack of legal protection. AI art’s copyright is a mess. It rides the line of general copyright laws and are just barely different so that they are not flagged for infringement. AI art is still fairly new so copyright laws around AI art are not as clear and if there are laws, they aren’t as enforced.
How to Fight Back
With AI art and technology revolutionizing, it can be a challenge for artists to protect their work, especially in the unknown beast that is AI. While there is not a lot protection now, there are two solid ways an artist can defend themselves. Artist have begun to learn how to mask their artwork when they post on social media. Tools like Anti-DreamBooth, Mist and Glaze add tiny Changan images pixels. These changes are naked to the human eye but when an AI program attempts to scrape an image, it won’t be able to decipher it properly. Glaze is the program that is most recommend since its free, you can download it as an app and its straightforward.
Another way to protect your artwork is to consider where you post it. Art sites like DeviantArt and Flickr have become a feeding ground for AI companies to scrape art. A quick solution would be to make your accounts private but that would make it very difficult for small artist to promote themselves. Consider posting your to Cara. Cara is a new platform that has collaborated with Glaze researchers to implement No AI tags on images posted to their site.
LOCAL EVENT: Artist Afternoon
Each month at the Central Library, they study a new artistic concept. This month’s focus is on practicing how to render light and textures using proper displays. You can bring your own supplies or use the charcoal provided but it is first come first serve! Meet and mingle with fellow artist and art enthusiast to create something beautiful!
When/Where: April 12th from 12:00-3:00pm. Central Library Nussbaum 219 N Church St. Greensboro NC 27401
Prices: FREE
Link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/artists-afternoons-central-library-tickets-1225543205719
SOURCES
Ai art and its impact on artists | proceedings of the 2023 AAAI/ACM Conference on AI, Ethics, and Society. (n.d.). https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3600211.3604681
Artist’s afternoons @ central library. Eventbrite. (n.d.). https://www.eventbrite.com/e/artists-afternoons-central-library-tickets-1225543205719
Heckkila , M. (2024, November 21). Four ways to protect your art from ai . MIT Technology Review. https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/11/21/1107108/four-ways-to-protect-your-art-from-ai/#:~:text=Tools%20such%20as%20Mist%2C%20Anti,you’ve%20shared%20it%20publicly.
Roller, J. (2023, November 29). AiArt: Why some artists are furious about ai-produced art. IEEE Computer Society. https://www.computer.org/publications/tech-news/trends/artists-mad-at-ai
Wakelee-Lynch, J. (2024, October 11). Ai’s impact on artists. LMU Magazine. https://magazine.lmu.edu/articles/mimic-master/
GREENSBORO COLLEGE ART COLUMN 