Written by Ziqi Chen & Siqin Wang
AI and Artists
“The Joy of AI Painting” by Ars Electronica is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Artist Kim Leutwyler and numerous illustrators have discovered that their artwork is being used to train AI image generators without receiving any permissions and compensation. These AI generators are now being employed to develop profit-generating applications, resulting in a contentious debate between artists and tech companies. Moreover, under current law, artists cannot take any steps to protect their work from being used by AI, which has sparked copyright concerns among artists. Artists and activist organisations are calling for a dialogue to improve the legal and ethical framework to better protect artists’ rights while promoting AI development.
AI and Musicians
“AI Music” by Ars Electronica is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Hozier, the Irish musician, has expressed his concerns about the potential threat of AI to the music industry and stated that he is open to exploring measures to address this issue. The use of AI in creating songs or imitating well-known artists has raised questions regarding copyright and creative rights. Hozier has also shown support for possible strike actions within the music industry as a response to the potential impact of AI on music. He remains sceptical about whether AI can be considered art since it lacks the ability to create based on human experience. Additionally, Google and Universal Music are currently engaged in negotiations concerning artist melodies and voices for AI-generated songs.
AI and writers
“Computer AI – Why I keep losing” by Si-MOCs is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
The passage describes how author Holden Shepherd’s novel The Invisible Boy was used for database analysis by a website called Prose Craft, an act that was done without the author’s permission, sparking concerns from the author and other writers.Prose Craft is a fictional language database created by author Benji Smith to analyze various features of a work. Even though Prose Craft is not as good as the large-scale language model Chat GPT, it still used the work without permission.
Authors and other writers are outraged that their work could be used by future AIs to generate new works, or perhaps even to mimic their writing style, for which the authors would receive no payment. Authors are calling for copyright laws to be updated to better protect authors from unauthorised use of their work. They also seek government-level regulation to address the potential threat to creative rights posed by AI and large-scale language models to ensure that authors’ rights are protected.
References
Derbyshire, B. V. (2023, August 17). Hozier would consider strike over AI threat to music. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-66517064
Trilling, J., & Wynne, E. (2023, August 8). Author Holden Sheppard raises alarm after discovering his work used by writing analysis database. ABC Listen. https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/perth-drive/holden-sheppard-online-database-theft/102708340
Williams, T. (2023, January 9). Artists angry after discovering artworks used to train AI image generators without their consent. ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-10/artists-protesting-artificial-intelligence-image-generators/101786174