Artists and AI can't get along (unless...)
Why artists are concerned and disappointed at AI? There are problems with AI art generators and AI "Artists". But, the solution might be simple.
Hello! Harshini here.
I know I already talked about AI in my post about Sora by Open AI. But I still have more to say. This post is about why artists are concerned and the problems with AI art generators.
From what I observed, AI can’t be labeled as either good or as bad. Everyone has different opinions about AI so everyone can only voice out their opinions and people can’t collectively agree with one side. So, take everything I say with a grain of salt.
I think we can agree that chatGPT or any other language-type AI model cannot stop writers from pursuing their passion.
Most readers look for a human’s unique vibes- the personality of their favorite writers when they read something written by them.
The words move the curtains to reveal that there’s a human behind what’s written. It’s something that can’t be created by machines. I believe that the art of writing will continue to thrive and inspire a lot of people. (Although there are people who would fall for AI written text. Which is… A problem. But this post is not about them!)
I read a wonderful post about AI, humans, writing, and creating- I really recommend you read it: Machines Will Not Replace Us
Writers and language-based AI models can live in peace. So, artists and AI art generators can do the same right? All artists have a human’s unique touch in their artworks. But you see a lot of artists ranting about AI art on the internet. Why is that?
When it comes to artists and AI, it’s mostly chaos.
Debates, arguments, and conflicts arise within the art community.
Believe it or not, there were and still are people in the world dumb enough to genuinely think that art should be free.
Drawings created with passion, hard work, practice, experience, and some of the artist's soul.
So, how do people expect that artists would be able to make a living while there are tons of AI models that offer “Art” for cheap? (Of course, there are still people who seek the authenticity and touch of artists but even so, they could get scammed by a dude paying for Midjourney pretending to be an artist).
AI making artists lose their jobs is a big problem. In fact, AI is able to beat artists only because it exploits them and their artworks.
AI companies are making huge money off of their AI models, while artists are the reason such AI art generators exist. I don’t hate AI but this is unfair. AI models steal art and I'm going to tell you all about it.
What is the point of art?
Artists love creating. They put a lot of time, passion, and effort into what they create. Art admirers and enthusiasts love buying artworks and framing them in their homes. Aspiring artists take inspiration from their favorite artists and work hard to become awesome like them.
Real art invokes a feeling in both artists and art admirers. It's not only used as a powerful tool to advertise or create pretty visuals.
It can tell stories without words, make someone feel something, and reveal the different perspectives of different people. It can add vibes even to advertisements.
‘Art’ is creations made by passionate people, whether it be drawings, paintings, photographs, animations, handicrafts, videos, 3D models, sculptures, etc.
But in this article, I am referring to the form of art that requires one to draw. Especially digital artworks.
What people thought would be the end of art…
Back in the day, people thought that the invention of the Camera and Photography was going to hurt the career of artists and that would be the end of art.
But, that didn’t happen, did it? Photography didn’t erase art. It didn't affect artists at all. It became a wonderful form of art itself and became the most powerful and helpful asset for artists.
Then the Artificial Intelligence AI image generators appeared. AI doesn’t only generate realistic images but it can also generate super-convincing artwork in seconds.
With this new technology, people don’t have to actually draw to create art. People with zero art skills can now create art.
Even though AI has evolved to be able to do all these fascinating things, It's still being despised by artists. Why? It has some super-important things to work on. Which I'll talk about later in this article.
Problems with AI art
The real problem with AI is not because of how it creates art. The problem lies with the companies that exploit artists to train their AI models.
You might have heard that AI learns to create art. But, do you think it looks at the world and learns how to simplify objects into basic shapes? Do you think it learns human anatomy or understands how things are structured to be able to draw them?
No! Artists spend most of their lives learning these things. And AI just copies their homework.
Artists are able to figure out these things only by going through a lot of trial and error. But, AI takes the shortcut or rather, it cheats by stealing their solutions to these problems.
It would be fine if the AI companies had permission to use the artists’ artwork. But, that’s not what happens.
To train an AI model, a lot of artworks from professional artists are used without their acknowledgment. Any artwork that you post online is automatically scraped off of the internet and fed to AI models.
Without artists, AI art wouldn’t exist. Yet, the AI gets all the credit.
What an AI image-generator AI does is take tiny-pixel parts of millions of original artworks and mash them together. It’s more complex than that, but, it’s not collage- the AI actually recognizes the words or images that you input. It can name objects, nature, and living beings.
But, it has no understanding of art fundamentals whatsoever. That is why a lot of AI artworks end up looking off and similar.
Silly detail, you may have seen artists joking about how they can’t draw hands. It turns out, AI can’t generate hands either.
P.S. I just watched a bunch of videos about AI art, and here are my favorite ones (These titles might seem like they are rants. But, these are mostly super-informational):
AI is taking over Pinterest
If you've used Pinterest for art references, you know that it used to be full of original artwork by artists. But right now, Pinterest is littered with AI art. It has become difficult for aspiring artists to find authentic human-made artworks to analyze and learn. Watch this video so you can see how AI art is a bit different from human-made artworks:
Thankfully, most AI art can be differentiated from real art. But, some of them still manage to trick people. Heck, even I drew a few drawings only to realize that it's AI-generated in the later part of the art process.
What do you think about AI art and AI image generators? Let me know in the comments!
Problems because of people who misuse AI
People who usually hire an artist, can now purchase an AI model for a cheap subscription price and mass-produce artworks. Plus, they can get it done in minutes or even seconds just by typing in a few words.
Which is a good thing. Until you realize there are a lot of people being dishonest, misusing AI, scamming people, and making money off of them.
Not just AI models, but these people are also at fault. I'm not saying that you shouldn't use AI to create art, just don't use it to win an art competition and claim that you drew it, while others are out there giving their best. Don't charge a high amount of money for an AI-generated image- in fact, don't sell it without any AI indication that it’s AI-generated. Don't lie and say that you created it.
Just my opinion, “AI artists” shouldn't be called artists, they are people who learned to use AI image generators. Not artists.
The art community is in shambles not just because of AI- but because of people who are making uneducated assumptions and accusing other artists of using AI to generate art and passing it as their own.
Even if you hate AI art, I don’t think making assumptions and blaming other artists is a good thing to do.
What’s the solution?
AI image generators can exist without hurting artists if it had some restrictions. I believe, two restrictions should be placed on AI image generators.
They should ask for the artist's permission before using their work.
Every AI-generated image should have a non-croppable watermark or indication to let people know that an artwork is AI-generated.
That’s it. If these two restrictions were introduced, AI and artists would live without conflict or even become friends.
That’s it for today’s newsletter. If you liked this post, I hope you can let me know by leaving a quick like, comment, or share this letter with others.
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed reading this post and hope it was helpful. Come again next week on Friday for a ✨new post✨
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Great article, Harshini!
I love that your thought process is shown throughout this, and it's inspiring to know that you really care about this!