The rise of AI-generated art is a complex issue that raises important questions about intellectual property and the ethics of using technology to create art. On the one hand, some argue that AI-generated art is simply a tool to enhance human creativity. But in many cases, the AI is creating all of the art and the human is merely slapping their brand or name on it. Does this not undermine originality? And is not originality the true essence of creating art?

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.” – Steve Jobs

So how is AI-generated art created?

Well before creating anything, the AI must train on image recognition. For example by learning what a motorcycle is and what it isn't. You've inadvertently helped train machines on image recognition by authenticating as a human using CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart) and clicking only on the tiles with a motorcycle.

Now scale your little motorcycle CAPTCHA times billions and include basically all the art that was ever uploaded to the internet. Now let the AI train on that data. Now let it create from mere text input. Badda bing badda boom.

What's the beef?

Well because the AI trained on pre-existing visual content scraped from the entire internet without consent, many artists are feeling grifted and powerless to protect their work from being used in ways they did not intend. Such as an AI scanning their paintings and then making perfect variations in the exact style of the artist. Oh and there's the whole issue of artists losing their jobs, but that's a whole different issue to deal with. Right now let's just focus on the copyright issue.

Cases in litigation as of writing

Possible solutions to AI stealing your swag?

Perhaps a digital registry of original art content can authenticate and protect the intellectual property rights of visual artists. Kind of like a private club, humans only of course.

Artists, tech companies, and legal experts would need to develop a secure and accessible system that can be used to track and verify the ownership of original art content. Perhaps on a blockchain ledger? Yes, probably as an NFT.

But that would also mean that the human-created art cannot be linked up to the public internet lest a savvy AI scan it and badda-bing badda-boom allover again. Maybe the human-created art can have a tag that prevents AI from scanning it. That could work, right?

Another solution is to develop AI algorithms that create original art content without relying on scanning or scraping the internet. This would require significant investment in research and development, as well as collaboration between artists, scientists, and engineers.

Conclusion

Ultimately, the rise of AI-generated art highlights the need for a more nuanced and collaborative approach to the intersection of art, technology, and intellectual property law. By working together, we can develop innovative solutions that protect the rights of visual artists while also exploring the creative potential of AI-generated art.