Why Artists HATE AI Art! (And Why It’s NEVER Ethical) || SPEEDPAINT + COMMENTARY

Duchess Celestia
18 Feb 202317:21

TLDRIn the video titled 'Why Artists HATE AI Art! (And Why It’s NEVER Ethical) || SPEEDPAINT + COMMENTARY', Celestia discusses the ethical concerns surrounding AI-generated art. She explains that AI art is created using algorithms and often relies on a dataset known as lion 5B, which contains over 170 million images scraped from the internet without artists' consent. This has led to numerous copyright infringement lawsuits. Celestia argues that AI art is inherently unethical due to its exploitation of artists' work for profit without compensation. She also addresses the argument that AI art is similar to human artists using references, but counters that AI lacks the creativity and reinterpretation that humans possess. Celestia acknowledges the inevitability of AI art and suggests that the focus should be on making it more ethical, such as by using legally sourced datasets and ensuring human artists are still involved in the creative process.

Takeaways

  • 🎨 AI art is created by algorithms based on text prompts, with the most popular form being stable diffusion models.
  • 🚫 AI art generation is often unethical as it uses a dataset called lion 5B, which contains over 170 million images scraped from the internet without artist consent.
  • 💰 The profits from AI art generation go to the companies creating the models, not the artists whose work is used as training data.
  • 🤖 AI can perfectly recreate aspects of the training images with a degree of accuracy that humans cannot achieve, leading to potential copyright infringement.
  • 📉 There are ongoing legal battles over copyright violations resulting from AI art generation, with major companies like Getty Images suing for illegal content scraping.
  • 🎶 In contrast, AI music generation like by Harmony is considered more ethical as it uses copyright-free and voluntarily provided samples.
  • 🧐 The debate over AI art's ethics often hinges on whether it's seen as a tool for reference or a replacement for human creativity.
  • 👥 There are concerns that AI art could replace human artists, eliminating job opportunities and devaluing the skill and effort required in traditional art creation.
  • 🌐 The popularization of AI art risks devaluing the artist's role and discouraging aspiring artists from investing time in learning traditional art skills.
  • 🔧 Instead of resisting AI art, the focus should be on making it more ethical through legally sourced data, supporting artists, and ensuring human involvement in creative projects.
  • ✊ Artists and communities should advocate for ethical practices, legal reforms, and the fair use of AI art to complement rather than replace human creativity.

Q & A

  • What is the main ethical concern discussed in the video regarding AI-generated art?

    -The main ethical concern discussed is the use of the 'Lion 5B' dataset, which comprises over 170 million images scraped from the internet without the consent of the creators and copyright holders. This practice raises issues about copyright infringement and the unauthorized use of artists' work to train AI models, which then profit from this training without compensating the original artists.

  • How does the video describe the technical process of AI art generation?

    -The video explains that AI art is created by algorithms based on text prompts, with popular models like stable diffusion being highlighted. These algorithms generate images by learning from a vast array of reference images, in this case, the 'Lion 5B' dataset, which was compiled without the consent of the artists whose works were included.

  • What is the presenter's stance on whether AI-generated art can be considered real art?

    -The presenter suggests that whether AI-generated art can be considered real art is not the primary focus of the discussion, but they imply that the creation process lacks originality and ethical foundation due to the way AI learns and reproduces art styles from copyrighted works without consent.

  • What alternative ethical model for AI art generation does the video mention?

    -The video mentions 'Dance Diffusion' as an ethical model of AI art generation, contrasting it with visual art models. Dance Diffusion was created ethically, using data sets composed entirely of copyright-free and voluntarily provided music samples, acknowledging the potential legal issues and respecting copyright more stringently than visual art AI models.

  • Why do some artists feel threatened by AI art, according to the video?

    -Artists feel threatened by AI art because it can potentially replicate any style and replace human artists in various industries, diminishing job opportunities and undervaluing the skills and creativity of human artists. The video also mentions cases where AI art has been used in professional settings to replace human-created art, like in book covers and animation backgrounds.

  • What solutions does the presenter suggest for making AI art more ethical?

    -The presenter suggests fighting for the creation of ethically sourced data sets, supporting models not trained on the controversial 'Lion 5B' dataset, and developing new ways to ensure AI art tools can assist rather than replace human artists. They also advocate for legislation that mandates a minimum number of human artists on creative projects to integrate AI art more ethically into the industry.

  • How does the video address the potential of AI art to enhance or assist in artistic creation?

    -The video acknowledges that AI art could potentially serve as a tool to assist human artists by creating reference materials or base images that artists can further develop. However, the current use of AI art tends to replace the creative process entirely, which is a significant concern.

  • What legal actions are mentioned as being taken against the misuse of AI in art?

    -The video references multiple lawsuits, including those by Getty Images against Stability AI for scraping content and a class-action lawsuit involving artists against Microsoft, GitHub, and OpenAI, pointing to a broader legal challenge against the unethical use of copyrighted materials in training AI models.

  • How does the presenter propose the art community should react to the inevitability of AI art?

    -The presenter suggests that resisting AI art is futile due to its entrenched presence and potential for growth. Instead, they advocate for proactive measures to make AI art more ethical, such as campaigning for better data practices and regulatory changes to protect artists' rights and ensure fair use of AI in artistic creation.

  • What does the presenter say about the future job prospects for human artists in the face of advancing AI technology?

    -While initially optimistic that AI art would not entirely replace human artists, the presenter admits to underestimating the speed of AI improvement and its impact on jobs. They express concern that AI is increasingly used to replace human artists rather than to assist them, potentially leading to significant job losses in the art community.

Outlines

00:00

🎨 AI Art Ethics and Squarespace Sponsorship

The video, sponsored by Squarespace, addresses the ethical considerations surrounding AI art. Celestia, the host, discusses the topic of AI art being real and whether it threatens artists' livelihoods. Squarespace is praised for its versatile website building tools, as demonstrated by Celestia's creation of a website for her cat, Cheddar. The platform's features, including automatic image scaling and e-commerce integration, are highlighted.

05:01

🚫 AI Art and Copyright Infringement

Celestia explores the legal and ethical issues related to AI art, particularly focusing on the use of the lion 5B dataset, which contains over 170 million images scraped without consent. The discussion covers how AI art generators are trained on this data, leading to potential copyright violations and the ability to replicate artists' styles. The video also mentions ongoing lawsuits against companies like Stability AI and Microsoft GitHub for using copyrighted content in AI art generation.

10:02

🤖 The Inherent Unethical Nature of AI Art

The video argues that AI art is inherently unethical due to its reliance on stolen references. It differentiates between human artists using references and AI's direct recreation of them, emphasizing AI's perfect memory and lack of creative reinterpretation. Celestia also discusses the impact of AI art on the job market for artists, with concerns that it could replace human artists entirely. Examples of AI art being used to replace human work are given, and the video criticizes the notion that AI art democratizes art creation.

15:02

🌐 Embracing AI Art's Existence and Fighting for Ethical Improvements

Celestia acknowledges AI art's inevitable presence and suggests that resistance is futile. Instead of rejecting AI art outright, she advocates for making it more ethical through the use of legally sourced datasets, supporting models that respect artists' rights, and lobbying for legislation that protects human artists. The video ends with a call to action for the community to fight for less harm and more ethical practices in AI art generation.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡AI Art

AI Art refers to artwork that is created by an algorithm based on a text prompt. In the context of the video, it is a central theme as the creator discusses the ethical implications of AI-generated art. The video mentions that AI art is often generated using a dataset called lion 5B, which is a collection of over 170 million images scraped from the internet without consent, thus raising concerns about copyright infringement and the exploitation of artists' work.

💡Ethics

Ethics in this video pertains to the moral principles that govern the creation and use of AI art. The discussion revolves around whether the use of AI to generate art is morally right, particularly when it involves training AI on artwork without the artists' consent. The video argues that the current practices in AI art generation are unethical due to the exploitation of artists' work for profit without compensating them.

💡Stable Diffusion

Stable diffusion is a popular method for generating AI art, which the video uses as a focal point to discuss the technical process behind AI art creation. It is mentioned as a process that trains AI on a wide variety of reference images to create new images. The video emphasizes that these models were trained on the lion 5B dataset, which has raised ethical and legal issues due to the unauthorized use of artists' images.

💡Copyright Infringement

Copyright infringement is a legal issue highlighted in the video where AI art generators are accused of using artists' work without permission. The video discusses ongoing lawsuits against companies like Stability AI for illegally scraping content and training their models on copyrighted images, which artists argue is a violation of their rights.

💡Overfitting

Overfitting, in the context of AI art, refers to an instance where the AI model creates something nearly identical to an image from its training data. The video mentions that AI art generators are prone to overfitting, which can lead to the creation of works that are strikingly similar to copyrighted art, thus raising ethical and legal concerns about the uniqueness and originality of AI-generated art.

💡Artist Exploitation

Artist exploitation is a significant concern raised in the video, where artists' work is used to train AI models without their consent or compensation. The video argues that this exploitation is unethical and harmful to the art community, as it undermines the value of original human-created art and the effort artists put into their craft.

💡Capitalism

Capitalism is discussed in the video as a system that AI art generation companies are navigating for profit, often at the expense of artists. The concern is that these companies are capitalizing on AI-generated art without fairly compensating the artists whose work was used to train the AI, which contributes to the ethical debate around AI art.

💡Job Erosion

Job erosion refers to the potential loss of jobs for human artists due to the rise of AI art generation. The video expresses concern that as AI art becomes more prevalent, it may replace the need for human artists in various industries, leading to fewer opportunities for artists to earn a living from their work.

💡Artistic Skill

Artistic skill is emphasized in the video as a crucial element that distinguishes human artists from AI. The video argues that AI lacks the creativity and interpretative skills that human artists possess, and that AI's use of references does not equate to the creative process that artists go through when they create art.

💡Digital Art

Digital art is compared to AI art in the video to illustrate the progression of art creation tools. While digital art tools like Photoshop are seen as aids that still require an artist's skill and effort, AI art is criticized for potentially replacing the need for human artistic input altogether, which is seen as a devaluation of the artist's role.

💡Artistic Community

The artistic community is the collective of artists, creators, and those involved in the production and appreciation of art. The video discusses the impact of AI art on this community, suggesting that the rise of AI-generated art could be detrimental to artists' livelihoods and the integrity of the art world as a whole.

Highlights

The video discusses the ethical concerns surrounding AI-generated art and its impact on artists.

AI art is created by algorithms based on text prompts, with stable diffusion being a popular method.

Stable diffusion models use a dataset called Lion 5B, which contains over 170 million images scraped without consent.

AI art generators can replicate the style of any artist whose work was included in the training data.

AI art generation is profitable, but the profits go to the companies and not the artists whose work is used.

There are ongoing lawsuits regarding copyright violations resulting from AI art generation.

Harmony, an AI music generation platform, was created ethically using copyright-free and voluntarily provided music samples.

The ethical dilemma of AI art is unsolvable as long as it's trained on stolen works.

AI art is criticized for being a substitute for the art creation process rather than a tool to assist artists.

The use of AI art to replace human artists in industries is seen as unethical and a threat to job opportunities.

Artists are concerned that AI art will eliminate the need for human artists and devalue their work.

The video argues that AI art is not the same as digital art, as it completes the art creation process without human effort.

The popularization of AI art is seen as devaluing the effort and skill required to create art.

Instead of resisting AI art, the focus should be on making it more ethical and artist-friendly.

The video calls for fighting for ethical data sets, legislation, and the inclusion of human artists in creative projects.

The goal is to move towards a future where AI art is less unethical and more supportive of artists.