By Michaela Gordoni
As action figures, Studio Ghibi-esque images and other AI art grow popular, artists fear for their livelihoods.
“People who use it [AI generators] should be respectful of artists,” said one artist, Joy Cardaño, whose commissions have come to a screeching halt. It’s “so unethical.” “Even if the artists are vocal about how they don’t want their art to be used, they refuse to listen.”
NBC reported many artists like Cardaño are vocal about the issue, pointing out that Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki called AI-generated art “an insult to life itself.”
A large concern is AI’s ability to mimic artists’ styles — the thing that makes an artist unique.
“What would you do if you took the time that you’re typing prompts into AI and just try sketching something for yourself?” one illustrator suggested. “I know that doesn’t always appeal to everybody, but I’m just so much more interested to see what people come up with for themselves, because it’s always more personal.”
In 2022, an artist discovered her name was used over 12,000 times in prompts on Midjourney.
“It just got weird at that point. It was starting to look pretty accurate, a little infringe-y,” she told The New Yorker. “I can see my hand in this stuff, see how my work was analyzed and mixed up with some others’ to produce these images.
In 2023, cartoonist Sarah Anderson and two other artists sued three AI companies for copyright infringement after they saw people replicating their work with AI tech. The suit is presently ongoing.
Related: Battle Between AI and Artists Builds with New Ruling
“Credit, consent and compensation, that’s what we would like from those models,” Andersen said. “That’s what we’re trying to achieve with the lawsuits.”
“If you’re an artist that works mainly off of commissions, you’re probably losing a lot of income because it is cheaper, easier and faster to use a model to create an image than it is to pay an artist,” she continued. “And of course, that’s a financial issue, because if you want to use that particular artist’s style, you can do that, too, and you can do that without their consent, so it becomes a big financial issue.”
OpenAI claims its image generation tools are “designed to support human creativity.”
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said this month, “I think the democratization of creating content has been a big net win for society. It has not a complete win; there are negative things about it for sure, and certainly it did something about the art form. But I think on the whole it’s been a win.”
Architect, designer, artist and university professor Joshua Vermillion is not one of the artists against AI because he uses it to his advantage. Before he used AI tools, he made about 10 works per year. In 2023, he made over 150, he told Science News Explores.
However, he does admit there are kinks to be worked out.
“We need to enter the fray, use the tools, experiment with them and be critical of them,” he said.
While artists already feel AI’s impact, it remains to be seen just how much change the technology will bring when it comes to creativity.
Read Next: ‘We Have To Fight It’: Kevin Sorbo Warns Against AI Use In Hollywood
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