I started out with this new skill because I wanted to make a special gift for my niece. I made a number of mistakes from a publishing perspective. Despite doing the storyboarding and artwork myself, I took a short cut with illustration by using and AI style transfer tool. I wanted to reflect on these a bit.
The use of AI art generation tools come with some old problems and new problems. Any time technology and art find themselves smooshed together we tend to find ourselves rehashing conversations about skill and asking questions about what constitutes art. I'm not moved by claims of traditional art being more authentic forms of expression, but AI art brings with it an edge to ethics that I haven't come across before. I will expand on both of these things.
My Art Could Beat Up Your Art
Do you remember being a child and hearing the raucous exclamations of children raising the stakes on parental WWE matches? I don't, but it seems like a thing.
For some context, I grew up in a rural area where the conservatives and the cow tippers roam. I had dial up internet. Video games were 8 bit. Summer didn't melt your eyes. It was a different time. I was one of the few people in my class to have internet available at home. Since I was either doodling or online, I received a tablet for Xmas so I wouldn't have to use my mouse to do pixel art in #MSpaint or on Oekaki. I never got into digital art in any meaningful way, but I enjoyed the versatility.
When I got into University, I took an introductory art class. I remember receiving a lot of criticism about my interest in digital art because the technology does all the work for you. All I could think about were the monks that use to illuminate those old vellum medieval bibles saying things like, "You're not a real artist because you buy your paints." Of course they used to source and grind their own pigments to turn into paint.
Advances in technology and shifts in economic systems have created new opportunities for artistic expression since the time of blowing ochre onto cave walls. Now, digital artists are more or less accepted as having artistic skill whether they're drawing portraits, fixing damaged photographs, or designing marketing campaigns. So, I don't really fret myself over questions of real art vs fake art when it comes to technology opening up new possibilities for creation.
I do, however, take issue with an ethics. While the content of the result can differ, AI Artwork Generators capitalize on the widespread availability of artwork on the Internet and they abuse the artistic community by skirting around or ignoring the decency of recognition. This tool goes beyond integrating the brushstrokes and palette choices of a favourite artist into developing a skill that takes time and effort to generate into original artwork. I'm of the mind that if an artist hasn't even been approached to discuss the use of and appropriate compensation for the use of their artwork, it shouldn't be used as the baseline inspiration for AI Artwork.
How do I square that against having used an AI Artwork tool to publish a book?
Well, originally, I wanted to have a different look and feel for the book, and I'd put together a few sample slides. I tried reaching out to the artist to both inform them of the fact that I'd found their art in an AI Art tool, to ask if they knew, and to see if they'd be interested in an ongoing collaborative project. Regardless, they never got back to me. That's ok. I wasn't going to use their work without permission and a discussion of their credit or compensation needs. Instead, I found that a section of the available AI options included artists that were long since deceased. Ownership of the artwork had been passed to museums, and the potential for direct harm was reduced.
Of course, even though I didn't pay for the use of the service, and even though I used digital art tools to draw original pixel art for each page, I did still support the AI Art tool. As far as I could tell, the one I used wasn't being sued for copywrite infringement, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they're collaborating ethically with artists. So, it certainly wasn't a perfect solution.
There is a way to do AI Art tools better. Since we know that our legal systems lag far behind advances in technology, we can't rely on such structures to dictate the appropriateness of our actions. Digital spaces provide for open forums but few actionable solutions.
Where do you land on this topic?
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