Art

"Please stop me," says AI art generator founder

Published

1 year ago

May 5, 2023

We’ve seen no shortage of criticism, concern and even outright terror around the recent advances in AI technology. From AI art generators turning out terrifying realistic images to chatbots that go off the rails, AI is suddenly everywhere, and its presence is being keenly felt in the creative sector.

But while clothing companies face a backlash for using AI models and artists sue AI companies for using their work as training data, the last person we might expect to raise concerns is the founder of an AI company. And yet Kevin Baragona, CEO of DeepAI, has signed the recent open letter calling for a pause in AI development. He told Creative Bloq why he can’t sleep at night (see our guide to how to use DALL-E 2 for more on text-to-image tech).

The AI company CEO who’s afraid of AI

DeepAI AI image generator — Kevin Baragona of DeepAI (Image credit: DeepAI)

“Someone should stop the AI industry,” Baragona says during our interview, which is a surprising comment from the founder of a company in the field. He launched DeepAI (opens in new tab) back in 2016, initially as an AI news portal. It now has its own text-to-image AI art generator and a bunch of AI chatbots that can respond to questions in different styles, from that of a ‘drunk friend’ to a ‘motivational coach’.

Baragona also joined the likes of Elon Musk in signing the recent letter that urged a pause in AI development. Asked whether this is not a little contradictory, he exclaims that DeepAI is “my only livelihood”, but that he now thinks AI is developing too fast and will become “smarter than us”.

“I wasn’t worried about AI at all until a year ago when we started seeing exponential progress,” he says. “Now I think AI is pretty scary. This is what keeps me up at night. What are we building here? Why do we need this stuff? It’s really fun, it’s cool, people love it. but it’s almost too good, it’s too disruptive.”

Why AI art?

“We’re going to have a lot more creativity in the world.”

Kevin Baragona, CEO of DeepAI

Despite his concerns, Baragona still believes that generative AI, with the right controls, has benefits for human creativity, noting that it was AI art that made him want to enter the field. Describing it as “a cool technology that’s fun to play with”, he says kids love it and that the tech makes it cheaper to be creative.

“In the same way that Google made information really really cheap, AI makes creativity really, really cheap,” he reasons. His thesis is that if the cost of creativity goes down to zero, “we’re going to have a lot more creativity in the world: visually, audio, text, inventions, science, all of it.”

For now, DeepAI’s image generator is nowhere near as powerful as models run by DALL-E 2 (opens in new tab), Midjourney (opens in new tab) or Stable Diffusion (opens in new tab). It’s a freemium tool that focuses on simplicity and ease of use. Users can produce images in fixed styles, which limits the effectiveness of any style references provided in text prompts. It doesn’t seem to strictly obey instructions, and images lack the photorealism achieved by more recent models. But Baragona says this is the number one request from users and that DeepAI will “probably increase the photorealism gradually over time.”

“One thing that concerns me is that you won’t be able to tell what’s real or what’s fake on the internet anymore. At this point, I’m not really sure how we’re going to deal with that. Not just as a company, but as a world. It’s really troubling to be honest.”

As for how its model was trained, he’s a little cagey there too. He recognises that a lot of AI image generators were “trained on sort of stolen data,” which he says is “not good”. DeepAI’s model, he says, “used open-source data sets to fine-tune our own special models”. However, it also hosts Stable Diffusion, although Baragona says insists that it’s incapable of reproducing artists’ work verbatim because it produces “fuzzier” images than the original source material.

How artists are using the AI image generator

Baragona says the interest in AI art came Initially more from tech people than artists, but says artists have now become more interested, seeing it as “another tool in the artist’s toolbox.”

But how are artists using this tool? “One thing we see a lot of is artists inspiring their own art. Sometimes they get artist’s block and just don’t know what to create. So let’s say you come up with 30 ideas really quickly with the AI and then use that as the starting point to make something better […] We’re happy to help them overcome their creative block.”

The call for a pause in AI development seems to have fallen on deaf ears so far, and the controversy around AI art is likely to continue. See our pick of the weirdest AI art for examples of the kinds of things that people are creating.

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Art

A misspelled memorial to the Brontë sisters gets its dots back at last

Published

4 weeks ago

September 26, 2024

Anne Joseph

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.

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Art

Calvin Lucyshyn: Vancouver Island Art Dealer Faces Fraud Charges After Police Seize Millions in Artwork

Published

1 month ago

September 13, 2024

Harry Miller

In a case that has sent shockwaves through the Vancouver Island art community, a local art dealer has been charged with one count of fraud over $5,000. Calvin Lucyshyn, the former operator of the now-closed Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay, faces the charge after police seized hundreds of artworks, valued in the tens of millions of dollars, from various storage sites in the Greater Victoria area.

Alleged Fraud Scheme

Police allege that Lucyshyn had been taking valuable art from members of the public under the guise of appraising or consigning the pieces for sale, only to cut off all communication with the owners. This investigation began in April 2022, when police received a complaint from an individual who had provided four paintings to Lucyshyn, including three works by renowned British Columbia artist Emily Carr, and had not received any updates on their sale.

Further investigation by the Saanich Police Department revealed that this was not an isolated incident. Detectives found other alleged victims who had similar experiences with Winchester Galleries, leading police to execute search warrants at three separate storage locations across Greater Victoria.

Massive Seizure of Artworks

In what has become one of the largest art fraud investigations in recent Canadian history, authorities seized approximately 1,100 pieces of art, including more than 600 pieces from a storage site in Saanich, over 300 in Langford, and more than 100 in Oak Bay. Some of the more valuable pieces, according to police, were estimated to be worth $85,000 each.

Lucyshyn was arrested on April 21, 2022, but was later released from custody. In May 2024, a fraud charge was formally laid against him.

Artwork Returned, but Some Remain Unclaimed

In a statement released on Monday, the Saanich Police Department confirmed that 1,050 of the seized artworks have been returned to their rightful owners. However, several pieces remain unclaimed, and police continue their efforts to track down the owners of these works.

Court Proceedings Ongoing

The criminal charge against Lucyshyn has not yet been tested in court, and he has publicly stated his intention to defend himself against any pending allegations. His next court appearance is scheduled for September 10, 2024.

Impact on the Local Art Community

The news of Lucyshyn’s alleged fraud has deeply affected Vancouver Island’s art community, particularly collectors, galleries, and artists who may have been impacted by the gallery’s operations. With high-value pieces from artists like Emily Carr involved, the case underscores the vulnerabilities that can exist in art transactions.

For many art collectors, the investigation has raised concerns about the potential for fraud in the art world, particularly when it comes to dealing with private galleries and dealers. The seizure of such a vast collection of artworks has also led to questions about the management and oversight of valuable art pieces, as well as the importance of transparency and trust in the industry.

As the case continues to unfold in court, it will likely serve as a cautionary tale for collectors and galleries alike, highlighting the need for due diligence in the sale and appraisal of high-value artworks.

While much of the seized artwork has been returned, the full scale of the alleged fraud is still being unraveled. Lucyshyn’s upcoming court appearances will be closely watched, not only by the legal community but also by the wider art world, as it navigates the fallout from one of Canada’s most significant art fraud cases in recent memory.

Art collectors and individuals who believe they may have been affected by this case are encouraged to contact the Saanich Police Department to inquire about any unclaimed pieces. Additionally, the case serves as a reminder for anyone involved in high-value art transactions to work with reputable dealers and to keep thorough documentation of all transactions.

As with any investment, whether in art or other ventures, it is crucial to be cautious and informed. Art fraud can devastate personal collections and finances, but by taking steps to verify authenticity, provenance, and the reputation of dealers, collectors can help safeguard their valuable pieces.