BY NOAH PARKER<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Artificial-Inteligence-made Art, (AI Art) has taken the world by storm. AI Art began as early as the late 1900s alongside the birth of the computer, but only in this past year has it received widespread popularity and success. Some of today’s most prominent examples of AI Art generators are Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and Dall-E. While each has individual differences, the base concept remains the same: Write a prompt, submit it, wait a bit, and the AI will send back images based on that prompt. It\u2019s that simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Naturally, with all things that simplify a difficult task, AI Art grew in popularity. With this sudden growth, many potential problems have come to light, and there are avid supporters both for and against the new technology, and some seem to see AI Art differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI see it as a great tool. We look at someone with a hammer and a chisel, and they can carve a beautiful statue with it,\u201d Stephen Schleicher, a digital media instructor in the Fort Hays State Univertsity Informatics Department, said. \u201cWe can also see that a person with a pneumatic drill, or pneumatic hammer, can also carve a great piece of art, a statue out of it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schleicher said the tool of choice by an artist doesn\u2019t determine how good of an artist they are, as tools will constantly evolve. He said a pneumatic drill would just speed up the process. He thinks more people should look at AI Art similarly, as a way to do the same work faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FHSU Motion Design Adjunct Professor Thomas Giebler had a similar outlook as Schleicher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs I\u2019ve become more educated on AI Art and how it works, I think my feelings have been a lot more positive, as far as now trying to see it more as a tool and not just this scary monster that\u2019s going to take away all our jobs,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maddy Otter, an FHSU graduate student agrees with Giebler that AI Art has a place, but noted the legal implications that come with using AI Art. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think it has a lot of potential to be used as a tool once legal issues are sorted,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Otter went on to say that there are a lot of other problems aside from just the legal side that need to be solved before it can really be used as a tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many of those against AI Art make the point it is copyright infringement. This claim comes from the foundation of how AI learns how to make art. This process is very complex and differs for each AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, Stable Diffusion – one of the most popular art generators as of writing – begins this process from a dataset known as LAION-5B, a dataset that pairs over five billion skimmed images from the internet with text. It is important to note the dataset didn\u2019t allow artists to opt-in or out of it, meaning it took their works posted online without their express permission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Stable Diffusion AI then pulls from those images and, through a process of adding and then removing generated noise, attempts to recreate the image to the best of its ability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many defenders of AI Art describe this as similar to what artists do to learn their skills, especially early on before finding their style. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs artists, we\u2019re inspired by those things, like we do master studies\u2026 but I think a big part of it is that the machine can only take those things and diffuse it into more iterations,\u201d Giebler said when asked about this point of view. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He went on to say AI Art is taking these learned behaviors, but it\u2019s not a human brain using and interpreting them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe thing is that I still think it\u2019s a copyright issue because, as artists, I might do a study of Van Gogh\u2019s piece, but I\u2019m not going to start painting as close to Van Gogh as possible,\u201d Giebler said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schleicher had a differing opinion, AI Art is not attempting to break copyright law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not. The AI certainly has all that stuff in its database, but it\u2019s not going out there and trying to do anything malicious,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Due to the simplicity afforded to users of AI Art generators, another big question being asked is how it will impact artists and their jobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many artists fear that their jobs will be replaced by an AI, or if they work through commissions, potential customers will choose to use an AI over them for the sake of costs and simplicity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think certain entry-level things, some companies that don\u2019t see the value in having that personal human touch are going to see this as a great way to cheaply produce imagery, content, whatever,\u201d Giebler said. \u201cI think companies that do value good storytelling, good concepts, and care about their work and how they’re being presented to the world will still want to work with illustrators, designers, and animators.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n