By: Ivan Wang
Now I’m pretty sure you’re confused right by what I mean when I say AI is like a knife. What I mean is that AI can be used for good and bad, just like a knife can. However, as of now, it seems like it’s being used for more bad than good.
One example of this is the AI art situation. But first, you have to get a brief understanding of how AI works before you can understand why this situation is so bad. AI can generate things in a snap-that much is pretty obvious-but it doesn’t just get it out of thin air. In order for the AI to generate something, it needs data and that right there is the problem.
The problem with AI generated art is that it uses copyrighted data and data from artists that did not give their permission for the AI to use their art when generating images. Stability AI, an AI art model, goes so far to say that their models directly use private and copyrighted data. Not only that, but most of the images generated look almost exactly like the original data. This could lead to forgery, reputation damage, identity theft, and other things.
The worst part is that these AI art companies are exploiting loopholes so they can do these horrible things and make huge amounts of profit off of them.
One twitter user says that, ”If it’s available freely on the internet it’s not stealing. You’re just mad because you’re a broke artist.”. However, he is entirely wrong as SamDoesArts says that, ”Just because something is online doesn’t mean you can use it for whatever you want, especially not for commercial purposes,”.
Even the AI music industry uses data that is copyright free and a system that is ethical and doesn’t violate the rights of the music artists.
Even though the current situation looks bleak, that doesn’t mean there isn’t hope.There are still people that are using AI to do good, whether it be making entertaining videos or creating useful chatbots. So as long as everybody knows, understands, and fights back against these AI art companies, exploiting loopholes to profit off others’ work, things will get better.
Sources Used:Why Artists are Fed Up with AI Art.
Image Credit by Matt Hatchett