As AI-generated art becomes more popular a Sudbury, Ont., illustrator was surprised to find his work reflected in some programs without his permission.

Mark Gagne makes his living as a full-time illustrator and multimedia artist through his business, Mindmelt Studio.

He searched a popular database and discovered one of his images, complete with a watermark he added when he posted it to his own website. Through some more searches, Gagne said he found dozens of uses of his work in artwork created by artificial intelligence.

AI tools like DALE-E and Midjourney use natural language processing to understand written inputs and translate them into imagery.

To build those images they draw on vast databases of existing visuals to create derivative imagery in seconds.

“At this point, it’s really hard to say definitively how it would affect my career,” said Gagne.

“I mean, it’s definitely troubling. Say if somebody wants to have an image for a book that they’re publishing, for instance. Instead of coming to me and paying me to commission a piece of artwork for that book cover they’ll just enter in some keywords into an AI art generator.”

Gagne noted there are lawsuits underway against some companies that run AI art generators because artists have alleged they’ve used their work without permission, or proper compensation.

Notably, Getty Images, a multimedia company that owns a library of millions of images and videos, is suing a company called Stability AI.

In a press statement on Jan. 17 Getty Images alleged “Stability AI unlawfully copied and processed millions of images protected by copyright and the associated metadata owned or represented by Getty Images absent a license to benefit Stability AI’s commercial interests and to the detriment of the content creators.”

Gagne said AI companies should make it easier for artists to opt out, if they don’t want their work used by art generators.

He added the “Spotify model”, now common in music streaming, could also be applied to visual art. Every time an AI generator references one of his pieces he would receive a small amount of money.

There’s this sense that these AIs can kind of produce anything in a very, very short amount of time.– Aaron Langille, game design professor, Cambrian College

Futurist and technology consultant Jesse Hirsh said the Spotify model is problematic for most artists, because only those at the very top benefit from it.

“Only the Taylor Swifts and the Rolling Stones of the world actually get paid from streaming services, because the fraction of a penny is such a tiny fraction that only the most popular are actually able to make a living,” Hirsh said.

Hirsh said legislation is needed for more “algorithmic transparency,” which would force companies like OpenAI, the creator of the popular ChatGPT and DALE-E, to be transparent with creators and make it easy for them to opt out of their models.

Beyond issues around copyright, Hirsh said AI-generated art will devalue art made by human creators.

“If an artist, let’s say, took a couple of years to produce a graphic novel traditionally, but now someone else is able to create a graphic novel in a week, then that could create a change in the publishing industry where they no longer have the patience for the artist who is deliberate, and painstaking, and careful about how they construct their art,” he said.

Aaron Langille teaches video game design at Sudbury’s Cambrian College and has similar concerns.

“There’s this sense that these AIs can kind of produce anything in a very, very short amount of time,” he said.

“So I think artists that are uncomfortable by this, I think that’s a fully justified reaction to this. I think the concerning part is that I don’t think these are going to go away.”

Langille said he could see some creative companies advertising no AI was used to create their content, to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

While he said he has had informal discussions about AI-generated content with his students, he could see it becoming a part of the curriculum as it becomes a more important tool for content creators.

“We will certainly not be bringing it up as a way to reduce jobs or to reduce the human factor, but to maybe reduce some of the strain that’s on the humans that are doing the game design,” Langille said.

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