Kevin The lack of creativity and natural ability shown in computer-generated products is taking over, causing human artists to take action against AI art.
If you’re from an older generation, you have probably listened to some of today’s music and told younger generations that it doesn’t take any real talent or creativity to produce some music. In truth, some of today’s music is computer-generated and lacks the talent required of older music. The same is happening with art and artists. It’s already hard enough for human artists to make a living while alive; if AI art replaces them, there won’t be any real creativity left in the world.
What’s the problem with AI art?
Generative AI is based on deep-learning models that can generate high-quality products. Unless the users/viewer knows what to look for, most AI images, texts, and other content aren’t discernable from human-generated products. Basically, if you can describe an image to the AI program, it can generate that image, which means generating illustrations and images much faster than actual artists. This can be a problem for real artists, and it can feel a bit unnatural when you see the AI-generated images. In fact, some people describe these computer-generated images as soulless, which makes perfect sense.
The loss of a perfectly imperfect world
If you’ve ever toured an art gallery, you might have noticed how some art is imperfect, but that can be part of the beauty of the creation. When something isn’t exact, there’s a human element to it, allowing viewers to admire the flaws along with the story and the effort put into the art. The beauty of art is creating something from nothing and using various methods to do so. If human artists are replaced and AI art is all we see, it won’t be long before the art loses its soul and feel, much like synthesized and computer-aided music.
What can artists do?
File lawsuits
A group of San Francisco artists have filed lawsuits to reclaim copyright and consent from AI companies. Some AI tools create images based on previous works of artists, but some of the programs are able to generate images “in the style of” a chosen artist and makes images that are almost identical to original products. This can be a serious problem for human artists, especially when they have to fight against AI art to survive.
Using technology to combat AI
Another group of artists at the University of Chicago launched a free-to-use software program that helps protect original works. AI systems are nothing more than computer programs and require a way to read the data of an image to recreate it or create something similar. The software created by the team in Chicago adds a layer of data over images to act as a decoy for AI. This layer of data is invisible to the human eye but keeps AI from being able to recreate the original image.
Human pushback
There has been much backlash around the globe against AI. This sounds a little like the rise of the machines that we’ve been warned about in many science fiction films, but it’s not quite that detrimental yet. The backlash has been widespread against some films and productions using AI-generated background art in their products. This could be the only way to eventually slow down AI development.
AI won an art contest
The biggest AI art slap in the face to human artists has to be a recent win at the Colorado State Fair’s annual art competition. The entrant was transparent about the origin of their work but that didn’t stop other artists in the competition getting into a fierce debate because they thought he was cheating, especially since the AI-generated piece won the competition. It seems there will need to be new rules put in place to stop AI art from being entered and used in competition.
Can AI be useful to human artists?
Certainly, in fact, AI-generated images can serve as inspiration for new forms of creativity. Artists can allow an AI program to generate images and use them to inspire their own works. The challenge comes with whether or not some artists will only use AI art in the future, which would be detrimental to the human art world.
Its important to protect the soul, feel, and imperfectly perfect nature of real art that’s been generated by humans. Generating AI art instead of allowing human artists to create amazing masterpieces seems like a crime against humanity and the desire to be creative and expressive.
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