major concerns

AI is changing the future of art in amazing ways, but the technology has several flaws to iron out, especially when it comes to its ethical use. Copyright violation is the biggest problem alongside the ongoing debate on whether AI-generated images are real art at all.

1. AI Generators Learn From Images Without Artists’ Permission

Whether the software uses generative adversarial networks or diffusion models, an AI art generator learns from existing images, videos, text, and so on, all of which come from the internet. The AI’s developers can just take this data and feed it into their engine without compensating or even notifying the original owners. Some people end up spotting artworks that look like theirs, but that they never created. Blatant violation of copyright is only part of the ethical problem with AI art generators. Another is that, besides alerting the public that their work is being stolen, artists can do little to reclaim their property and stop engines from taking more.

2. Copyright Laws Against AI Generators Are Improving But Still Flawed

Creating art or any other material through artificial intelligence is a very complicated technology and one still in its infancy, so lawmakers don’t quite know what to make of it or how to fully protect artists’ copyright. Even big brands falling prey to it are reluctant to take action, but that's gradually changing.

In November 2022, the GitHub Copi­lot litigation began, filing a lawsuit against the engine's users—including Microsoft, GitHub, and OpenAI—for violating creators' legal rights. In January 2023, the same team behind the lawsuit joined forces with three artists to also take Stability AI, Midjourney, and DeviantArt to court for the same reasons: illegally using billions of copyrighted works to train generative AI algorithms. And yet there's still work to be done in order to clearly define AI generators’ nature, structure, and boundaries, not to mention what should count as a crime and who to blame.

Until we draw clear legal lines that account for all creative factors, such as what counts as a human product when working with technology, official safeguards for artists will have loopholes that anyone can exploit. For a while longer, creators will have to rely on the terms set by individual platforms. The ban of AI art on Newgrounds, for example, specifies that computer-generated images aren’t welcome, but allows the use of AI in small parts of artworks, as long as their creators make a note of these elements so that others are aware.

3. AI Generators Don’t Compensate or Give Credit to Artists

What makes AI art even more unethical is that an engine’s developers and users barely consider the original artists, who can’t give permission or take credit or payment for their unwilling contribution to the new image. While you don’t always know whose art an engine will use when you put in a prompt, some platforms let you choose from specific artists. StarryAI offers Banksy, Greg Rutkowski, and Ilya Kuvshinov, among other popular names. Other platforms offer styling tools with vague labels that expand your prompt. But look closely, and you may see names you recognize—the artists that will inspire your AI creations. Additionally, there are no regulations or even tips compelling users to give credit where it’s due and avoid other mistakes that technically make their AI art illegal.

4. Artists Lose Revenue Because People Turn to AI Generators

Besides AI engines and their developers taking advantage of copyrighted art without repercussions, artists also have to compete with free and easy-to-use art-generating software that makes potential customers turn to AI instead of human artists. It doesn’t matter that it can take several tries to get the artwork you want or that there are security concerns when you share data to create self-portraits on Vana, for example. It’s a cheaper and faster option that artists can’t beat yet. So, using AI-generated images instead of commissioning an artist for your projects takes business away from them and restricts an already competitive industry so much more. A fairer strategy would be to only use human artists for official business and leave AI engines for personal fun, but, once again, it all comes down to what you can afford.

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