Artists fight AI programs that copy their stylesArtists outraged by artificial intelligence that copies in seconds the styles they have sacrificed years to develop are waging battle online and in court.
by Agence France-Presse
29-03-2023 14:10
in Art and Artists
Image from Twitter by Sport NFT Card
Artists outraged by artificial intelligence that copies in seconds the styles they have sacrificed years to develop are waging battle online and in court.
--
Fury erupted in the art community last year with the release of generative artificial intelligence (AI) programs that can convincingly carry out commands such as drawing a dog like cartoonist Sarah Andersen would, or a nymph the way illustrator Karla Ortiz might do.
Such style-swiping AI works are cranked out without the original artist's consent, credit or compensation the three C's at the heart of a fight to change all that.
In January, artists including Andersen and Ortiz filed a class-action lawsuit against DreamUp, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, three image-generating AI models programmed with art found online.
--
ALSO READ: Is Artificial Intelligence the future of art?
Andersen told AFP she felt violated when first she saw an AI drawing that copied the style of her Fangs comic book work.
She fired off an indignant reaction on Twitter; it went viral, and other incensed artists reached out to her with stories of their own.
--
Backers of the suit hope to establish legal precedent governing generative AI models that copy artists' styles.
Artists want AI creators to be required to secure permission for works used in training software, with an option to remove it.
They also want suitable compensation.
There is room for a conversation about what that would look like, said Ortiz.
ALSO READ: Musk and experts call for halt in giant AI experiments'
Compensation could take the form of a licensing model, she mused, and would need to be appropriate.
It would be wrong for artists to get a couple of cents while the company gets millions of dollars, added Ortiz, whose resume includes working for Marvel Studios.
Cheap and easy On social networks, artists are sharing tales of jobs being lost to generative AI.
The suit notes that a video-game designer named Jason Allen last year won a Colorado State Fair competition with art created using Midjourney.
Art is dead, dude. It's over. AI won. Humans lost, Allen was quoted as telling The New York Times.
ALSO READ: Chinese tattoo artist: Tells women's stories through ink
The Mauritshuis Museum in the Netherlands sparked controversy by displaying an AI-generated image inspired by Vermeer's Girl With a Pearl Earring.
The San Francisco Ballet, meanwhile, caused a stir by using Midjourney to generate illustrations used in promotional material for Nutcracker performances in December.
It's sort of a natural consequence of something being easy and cheap and accessible, Andersen said.
Of course they are going to use that option, even if it is unethical, she added.
AI companies named in the lawsuit did not respond to requests for comment.
Stability AI founder and chief executive Emad Mostaque has portrayed generative software as a tool that can tend to mundane image output and provide new ways of ideating for artists.
ALSO READ: Influential Japanese manga artist Leiji Matsumoto dies
Mostaque contends that it will allow more people to become artists.
Critics disagree. When a person prompts software to draw in the style of a master, they say, it does not make that person an artist.
Mostaque has said that if people choose to use generative AI unethically or to break the law, that's their problem.
Death of creativity? Companies defending themselves from artists' copyright claims are likely to claim fair use, an exception sometimes allowed when a new spin is put on a creation or when it is only briefly excerpted.
The magic word used in the US court system is transformative, said lawyer and developer Matthew Butterick.
ALSO READ: Massive asteroid to pass Earth THIS WEEKEND
Is this a new use of the copyrighted work, or does it replace the original in the marketplace?
Artists are turning not just to the courts but to technology to defend themselves against generative AI.
Prompted by artists, a team at the University of Chicago last week launched their Glaze software to help protect original works.
The program adds a layer of data over images that, while invisible to the human eye, acts as a decoy for AI, said Shawn Shan, the doctoral student in charge of the project.
That still leaves the onus on artists to adopt Glaze. Butterick predicts a cat-and-mouse game as AI makers figure out ways around such defenses.
ALSO READ: South Korea to build world's largest' chip centre
Butterick also worries about the effect of AI on the human spirit.
When science fiction imagines the AI apocalypse, it's something like robots coming over the hill with laser guns, he said.
I think the way AI defeats humanity is more where people just give up and don't want to create new things, and (it) sucks the life out of humanity.
By Julie Jammot Agence France-Presse
SOAPIE QUIZ: How well do you know Generations: The Legacy'? WIN R1 000 in cash!
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
13/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
YES Network and The Gotham Sports App will air seven Athletes Unlimited Softball...
12/06/2026
The United Football League will host its FAST Innovation Suite at the 2026 United Bowl presented by Credit One Bank on Saturday, June 13 at 3:00 p.m. ET at Audi...
12/06/2026
PTZOptics and LayerJot will present live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how natural-language AI prompting, robotic camera control, and on-device comput...
12/06/2026
MultiDyne Video and Fiber Optic Systems will exhibit at InfoComm 2026, featuring...
12/06/2026
Ateme has announced that Eurovision Services is using Ateme's software-based frame-rate conversion technology for international live event workflows. The de...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin and Simplestream have announced a partnership with Xperi to simplify the launch of OTT streaming services on TiVo OS smart TVs and devices. The collabo...
12/06/2026
Net Insight has announced that a multinational technology company is deploying a...
12/06/2026
MLB Players Inc., the business arm of the MLB Players Association, has announced a partnership with Athletes First to develop and sell brand partnerships across...
12/06/2026
Guntermann and Drunck (G&D) and VuWall have announced the CommandKeyboard-Advanc...
12/06/2026
Comcast Smart Solutions announces a new smart technology deployment with Major L...
12/06/2026
Elevation Worship completed the initial leg of its Elevation Nights 2026 tour ...
12/06/2026
AJA Video Systems has announced KONA IP25 support for Colorfront Transkoder and ...
12/06/2026
Audinate Group Limited (ASX: AD8) will exhibit at InfoComm 2026 (Booth C7321, Ce...
12/06/2026
Pac-12 Commissioner Teresa Gould has announced the appointment of Scott Adametz as Chief Technology Officer. The Pac-12 describes the hire as the first CTO appo...
12/06/2026
Grass Valley has announced AMPP Edge Live, a production system combining Grass Valley hardware, NVIDIA Blackwell GPU acceleration, and AMPP OS in a single platf...
12/06/2026
At one time a trailblazer with the launch of the Longhorn Network, the Universit...
12/06/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...
12/06/2026
Chyron has announced PAINT 10.4, an update to its illustrated replay and sports ...
12/06/2026
SVP, Production Mark Gross: With the new schedule, with not having every Sunday night, it's given us an opportunity to take a step back and reimagine what ...
12/06/2026
For Televisa Technical Engineering Manager Roberto N nez Ibarra and the small team of 12 technicians and two production personnel at the IBC things are already ...
12/06/2026
Simple Steps to Better Acoustics - Taming The Small Room
Most of us mix in spare rooms and small spaces, where the acoustics fight us at every turn. At Gear...
12/06/2026
Latest addition expands vintage-inspired effects palette
Meris' Ottobit pedal range draws its inspiration from vintage gaming consoles, and the latest a...
12/06/2026
Soundbox-based chamber strings series expanded
Sonora Cinematic have just announced the launch of the second instalment in their Soundbox-based chamber stri...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
AJA Announces KONA IP25 Integration with Colorfront Software
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Collaboration enables uncompressed SMPTE ST 2110 I/O ...
12/06/2026
URSA Cine 12K LF Used to Create Visuals for STUTS' K-Arena Concert
Brie Clayton June 12, 2026
0 Comments
Organic visuals projected on a giant scre...
12/06/2026
MTI FILM Acquires Mango New Edit, Expanding its Global Post-Production Services ...
12/06/2026
AI Point Tracking Speeds Up Complex VFX Tracks in Mocha Pro
Jessie Electa Petrov June 12, 2026
0 Comments
The 2026.5 release adds automatic point trac...
12/06/2026
Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...
12/06/2026
Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/06/2026
How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026
Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy
Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...
12/06/2026
AgentPerf from Artificial Analysis, the industry's first agentic AI benchmark, gives developers, enterprises and infrastructure providers a clear way to com...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils First-Look Images from Villaflor, Santiago Mitre's New Film
Entertainment
12 June 2026
GlobalArgentina
Link copied to ...
12/06/2026
Back to All News
Cross the Boundaries of the Real World into the Spirit Realm i...
12/06/2026
With John Daro, DI Colourist at Warner Bros. Water Tower Color Tuesday 23 June, 10am-1pm or 3-6pm
Restar Corporation
Tokyo
Register here
John Daro is the ...
12/06/2026
Meet The Grumpy Onion Ireland's newest online sensation, all he wants is to ...
12/06/2026
RT stays Up All Night with brand new daily 2026 FIFA World Cup Vodcast
Adding to the fun around 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament, RT has launched a brand new d...
Artists fight AI programs that copy their stylesArtists outraged by artificial intelligence that copies in seconds the styles they have sacrificed years to develop are waging battle online and in court.
