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The AI Art Controversy: Is AI Stealing People's Artwork Unjustly?
Generative AI is a new technology, and even the government is having a hard time deciding where to draw the line. In this controversial time, lawsuits against multiple companies including Stability AI, Google, and other large businesses have taken place. It seems no one can decide what the limits on AI should be or if there should be any at all.
The main question I'll be looking at is whether or not AI companies should be able to take artists' work from the internet without giving credit or compensation to make training data. There are many who are split on this question as there are many factors to consider, but I have reason to believe that AI companies are stealing artists' work unjustly.
When you use a generative AI, you may think the art produced is a whole new piece that simply has a particular artist's style, however, this is not the case. Most AI that makes images uses a process called Latent Diffusion Models. The process is complex to explain but you can take a further look at it by looking at Morpheus Emad’s article. The product of Latent Diffusion Models is essentially a collage of different images meaning that the art is just copies of parts of other people's art. Most of the time such as with Stability AI when their AI makes these collages, they don't credit the artists.
Now that we know that generative AI is not creating new pieces, we can look at the implications of this. Let's take a look at how humans respond to real people copying art to get a better understanding of why what Ai is doing should not be allowed. In the real world, as stated in A Guide to Copyright Infringement, “If you trace a photo, you find online to make an illustration, you are infringing on someone else’s copyright”. Based on this it is safe to say that when a person copies someone's artwork it is considered a violation of copyright.
As we stated earlier, Generative AI is simply the copying and collaging of other artists' work without giving credit or compensation. With the knowledge of copyright, it is safe to say that AI is violating copyright as they are essentially doing the same thing tracers do. While the AI is not entirely reproducing other peoples art, it is still copying or tracing art. Both tracing and copying someone's art regardless of if you're only copying a part of it is an infringement of copyright.
Some people me look at AI and while they are aware or even except that it is Stealing artwork, they still claim it is fine. There could be many reasons for this but one of the main things people say when making this claim is that the AI is not hurting anyone even if it is stealing art. Another thing they tend to say is that since they posted their work online that people have the right to use it however they want.
Starting with the first point, I can agree that AI isn't hurting everyone, but it is definitely hurting some people. Traditional artists will not be affected by AI as there isn't a way for AI to copy physical pieces unless it is transformed to be posted on the internet. On the other hand, digital artists and designers will and are being affected negatively by AI. The worry with AI is not that it will stop human creativity, but that it will take away artists' jobs by taking their work unjustly.
Generative AI companies make profit from using others' work. As reported in Stability AI stabilized by investment from Silicon Valley royalty, new executive team, these companies make a large profit from their AI. Making millions of dollars off of work they didn't even create is incredibly unjust. These companies are essentially using artists as their employees to get free training data except they don't pay them a cent while they're making huge profits.
Let's take a look at the second point now. Claiming that when you post something then anyone can use it is not logical. I understand that many people post their art as a hobby, and it can lead to people not realizing that some artists actually do art for a living. These people also don't seem to realize the implications of what they are saying.
They are basically saying that anything you give out to social media regardless of what it is is free reign for anyone. If a big company announced its new product and you went and started to sell their product for your gain you would be in a lot of trouble. It is the same with art. Like I said earlier, tracing or copying art is in violation of copyright.
Overall, the evidence points towards these companies' stealing art for their own profit. Solving this problem and drawing the line will take a while, but it is happening right now. The question is whether or not we make the right decisions regarding AI. While I’m not claiming to have all the answers to what is right or wrong about AI, I know that profiting off of someone else's work should not be allowed.
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