Is Generative AI Stealing From Artists?

Just erase part of the image and tell AI what to render in empty space. Artificial intelligence (AI) is not only affecting industries like business and healthcare. It is also playing an increasing role in the creative industries by ushering in a new era of AI-generated art. AI technologies and tools are often widely accessible to anyone, which is helping to create an entirely new generation of artists. For labor economics and creative work, the idea is these generative AI systems can accelerate the creative process in many ways, but they can also remove the ideation process that starts with a blank slate.

The images themselves are pretty low resolution, which does detract from the fact it’s giving you so many options to choose from based on a single sentence. It seems the system is much better at coming up with art when you specifically ask it to do it in the style of a particular artist. Creating small, thumbnail-sized images is free, but doing anything more, including resizing or allowing “commercial use” costs a subscription. I’m surprised by the quality of the images generated, especially how each image definitely has a lot of classic Sci-Fi and fantasy feel to them, but the limitations on the free versions hurt it the most. While Runway produces a much bigger quality video than the other two models can, it’s not anything more than a cute gimmick.

Deep Dream Generator

Tell Jasper what you want and watch it create unique AI art in seconds. Discover the beauty, energy, and insight of AI creations in visual art, music, and poetry. Some leading firms have created generative AI check lists for contract modifications for their clients that assess each clause for AI implications in order to reduce unintended risks of use. Organizations that use generative AI, or work with vendors that do, should keep their legal counsel abreast of the scope and nature of that use as the law will continue to evolve rapidly. The capabilities of text generators are perhaps even more striking, as they write essays, poems, and summaries, and are proving adept mimics of style and form (though they can take creative license with facts). Other sectors like gaming, healthcare and education could benefit from AvI technology.

It wants users to buy “credits” in order to make more arts or bump up the quality and resolution of each image, and you will run out fairly quickly. Earlier this year, Shutterstock released its DALL-E 2-based AI image generator. The service generates four images at about 500×500 pixel size, which is pretty sizable compared to some of its competing platforms. Users can set the output between five separate “styles” to make the generated image look “3D” or more like a digital photo. Computer art generators can be used to build complex, even custom, social media ad campaigns.

OKX’s generative NFT AI feature

It’s known for having more algorithms and options than other generators, but it’s also extremely easy for novice users to get the hang of. NightCafe is based on a credit system, but it has a generous free tier, and plenty of options to “earn” credits by participating in the community. You can also buy credits and use the code UNITEAI for a 15% discount.

Yakov Livshits
Founder of the DevEducation project
A prolific businessman and investor, and the founder of several large companies in Israel, the USA and the UAE, Yakov’s corporation comprises over 2,000 employees all over the world. He graduated from the University of Oxford in the UK and Technion in Israel, before moving on to study complex systems science at NECSI in the USA. Yakov has a Masters in Software Development.

From a financial point of view, it seems clear from an ethical perspective that when AI companies stand to make enormous profits from this technology, artists whose talent contributed to their success deserve their cut. OpenAI, for example, attracted investment of $10 billion from Microsoft based on its potential to generate revenue in the future. The program remains beholden to Discord, and the bot offers the first few generated Yakov Livshits images as a trial, then asks users to pay $10 for a monthly basic membership with 200 images. The Wombo Dream system allows you to create art in multiple different styles such as old retro art, Salvador Dahli, or—simply—“Ghibli.” I chose a different style for each based on the style of each book. It also allows you to include a reference image that Dream can use, but I’ve restricted the system to its own imagination.

But once you make a Discord account and begin requesting images from the robot using specialized commands, you’ll get the hang of the process (Figure B). Despite originally having the name DALL-E mini, this AI art generator is NOT affiliated with OpenAI or DALL-E 2, rather, it is an open-source alternative. However, the name DALL-E 2 mini is somewhat fitting, as it does everything that DALL-E 2 does, just with less precise renditions.

The CF Spark Art tool is a little slower than its competitors of similar feature sets. However, with paid credits, you can speed up your art creation time and get access to your art faster. Deep Dream relies on a neural network that was trained with millions of images. It is easy-to-use, only requiring you to upload an image before the tool generates a new image based on the original. DALL-E 2’s easy-to-use interface makes it possible for anyone to create high-quality images with AI.

Exploring Different Styles in AI-Generated Art

However, this technological advance is a double-edged sword; it enables a high rate of AI art production, leading to an overabundance of creations that never see the light of day. For those that do make it into the public eye, an ephemeral shelf life and reduced sensitivity to artwork due to the saturation of visual art on social media are becoming increasingly problematic. As artists feel less in control of their work, the art world must navigate these challenges and find a balance between creation, curation, and maintaining the value of art in the digital age.

Unlike some tools on this list, there isn’t a set list of presets to help you on your creation journey. Instead, MidJourney works best with clear, concise sentences describing the end result you are looking for. Once you have generated your initial image, you can download your work, upscale it (to make it bigger) or create variations. However, you can also use the /blend prompt to upload your own images and blend them together to make new digital art pieces.