Generative artificial intelligence refers to artificial intelligence (AI) that is used to create or generate content, accomplished by inserting data into AI to train it so that it can form patterns and eventually find a way to “generate” content. So, what’s the problem here?
The first issue, especially with AI art is that the data that the AI model is trained on is inserted nonconsensually. AI needs data, but most companies just scrape the internet for as much content as they can find before dumping it into their model. This is a violation of basic copyright law. The moment that a piece of art is created, it is given an automatic copyright that includes the rights to reproduce, derive from, or display the work. When copyrighted art is used to generate AI art, it does all three.
A point that some raise against this is that you can’t “steal digital art” because it is pixels and there is no harm done to the original. However, just because the original piece of art hasn’t been changed, that doesn’t mean that this action doesn’t constitute as theft. It’s less about the piece of art itself and more about the labor that is put into creating it. If a worker performs labor for an employer and isn’t paid, then that’s wage theft. The same goes here; if an artist performs labor via creating art, and someone tries to use the product of that labor without payment, they benefit from the labor without paying the worker.
One of the more conceptual issues is the value of AI art. A fundamental part of art is the process of creation. Every stroke, sentence, or note is, whether conscious or not, a decision. AI, on the other hand, spits out an average concept with little thought or consideration to intention. Recently, AI works have been referred to as “slop” because of how low effort it is to create and consume. It’s nothing but the imitation of human creativity and effort. Since it doesn’t actually have any substance, it just tries to have the appearance of being substantial. It tries to reconstruct art without being able to understand the core reasoning behind it. Like a house with a facade, it’s easy to look at, but near impossible to interact with without realizing the flaws behind its creation.
The problem isn’t with outsourcing work or labor to a machine; it’s about outsourcing thought and care to an algorithm and depersonalizing expression and creativity. With how streamlined news has become and how fast misinformation spreads, people are getting more and more accustomed to consuming fast and forgetting faster. AI is another consequence of this; it’s easy, sweet, and doesn’t require much thinking, which are all traits that make people more vulnerable to misinformation and being passive. As the political and social landscapes of the world are changing, it is more important than ever to encourage people to think for themselves and reflect on their own intentions.
