AI art generators are facing backlash from artists who say the technology is “scraping” their work without their consent in order to create sophisticated images.
Tim Flach, a world-renowned animal photographer and the president of the Association of Photographers, is among those who feel ripped off and says artificial intelligence can easily imitate the style of his images.
Sky News filmed Flach generating a photo very similar to one of his originals using AI.
Image: Tim Flach was able to generate an image similar to one of his originals
“In the case of my tiger I have to put a lot of resources in there – I have to be in there with the tiger,” he said. “The machine doesn’t have to do that.
“But also the fact that at the moment these images are being generated by scraping our images, taking them off our websites, but there’s no remuneration there.”
He added: “For us in terms of livelihood, will there be legal frameworks that will allow us to invest creatively going forward?”
Trade bodies are calling for urgent regulation.
Isabelle Doran, the chief executive of the Association of Photographers, told Sky News: “These massive datasets have been accumulated from images that have been scraped without permission so effectively the photographers work must be remunerated … I think it’s only fair that creators are paid for the work that’s in those databases.”
The government is currently preparing an AI Code of Practice, but this will initially be voluntary.
Advertisement
Image: Mat Collishaw enjoys working with new technology
Some artists see the creative potential in AI.
Mat Collishaw will open an exhibition of his work with new technology in London next week.
He told Sky News: “When photography was invented 150-odd years ago, for first 50 years most photography was just an imitation of painting … it took a long time before photographers thought ‘Hey, we can do this we can go down here’ … and I suppose it’s the same with any new iteration of technology.
“It takes time before people learn to use this new tool in a way that utilises all of its potential.”
However, where some see just another artistic tool, others worry about the outlines of a deeper, more troubling shift.
Image: Dave McKean says AI presents a ‘redefinition of what creativity is’
Comic book artist Dave McKean said: “I think this [is] redefinition of what creativity is – there’s never been such a huge gap between the sheer lack of effort or work or anything going in and the huge sophistication that then results coming out.
“And I think that’s just a dreadful shame. I think that what we lose in that is immense.”
Of the AI companies Sky News contacted, only one, Stability AI, responded.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Will this chatbot replace humans?
A spokesperson said the company was “building AI tools to unlock creative potential”.
“AI can help to simplify the creative process, but isn’t a replacement for creators,” they said. “For example, when using a version of Stable Diffusion, or one of the many text-to-image applications built on that suite of models, an artist controls the style, composition and arrangement of their work.
“These models are designed to act as an assistive technology and enhancement for artists, similar to what digital cameras or photo editing software has done for photography.
“Like those technologies, we expect AI to open up new opportunities for the creative industry and grow the pie for paid artistic work.
“We believe that a broad range of creative and professional talents will embrace AI and use it to rapidly implement designs and improve efficiency. AI can help professionals convert ideas into deliverables with greater creative control, less time, and lower production costs.”
A government spokesperson said ministers were “seeking to strike a balanced and pragmatic approach which will allow AI innovators and creative industries to grow together in partnership”.
The Intellectual Property Office is to work with AI firms and rights holders to produce a Code of Practice and guidance on copyright and AI by the summer.
The spokesperson added that the government office will also “aim to make it easier for copyright holders to enforce their rights”.
“This will include providing guidance, coordinating intelligence on any systematic copyright infringement and encouraging the development of AI tools which assist with copyright enforcement,” they said.
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
