Kelly McKernan expressed feeling ill when learning her artwork had been employed to train an artificial intelligence system.
Her curiosity led her to type her name in Have I Been Trained, a website that searches LAION, a data set that fuels AI-based image generators including Stable Diffusion.
She discovered that more than 50 pieces of art had been uploaded to LAION.
The watercolour and acrylic illustrator from Tennessee expresses that, all of a sudden, the paintings with which she had a personal relationship and journeyed, took on a new meaning, consequently modifying her relationship with these artworks.
I experienced a sense of violation. If someone can type my name into an AI tool to create a book cover without hiring me, this can significantly damage my professional prospects and those of many other people.
Generative AI systems are utilizing vast amounts of data - text, images, video, and audio files, all scraped from the web - to be trained. By simply supplying it with a basic text prompt, content can be produced in a matter of seconds.
Ms McKernan is one of many artists who are challenging the status quo.
Alongside Sarah Anderson (a cartoonist) and Karla Ortiz (an illustrator), Ms McKernan has taken legal action against Stability AI, a corporation which operates Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, and DeviantArt, the latter being an online art platform that features its own generator, named DreamUp.
This further increases the number of court cases against AI companies, which are exploring questions of copyright.
Back in the beginning of this year, Getty Images launched legal proceedings against Stability AI, claiming that they had duplicated and operated on 12 million of the organization's pictures without approval.
Eva Toorenent, an artist who primarily produces creature design, monster and fantasy illustrations, states that she began to be concerned about AI after visiting a gallery where she discovered a work of art with qualities that reminded her of her own pieces - which she refers to as a "twisted adaptation".
The artist from Zandvoort, Netherlands expressed their dismay over the inadequate safeguards for artists by declaring, "If this can occur on a minor level, it certainly can occur on a grand scale." After this, the artist joined forces with five other artists and established the European Guild of Artificial Intelligence Regulation.
She states the purpose is to construct statutes and regulations that shield copyright proprietors and performers from malicious AI corporations.
Ms McKernan believes stronger regulations and safeguards should be put in place to better safeguard artists. She said, "Right now, I'm only able to secure copyright for my entire image. I fervently hope the trial will open up the possibility for better protection for us creative professionals and discourage the use of AI to supplant us. If we succeed in the suit, this will result in a fair recompense to many of us in the art industry who had been forced to provide our works for free unfairly."
In December, Stability AI stated that artists had the option of not participating in the upcoming version of Stable Diffusion; this declaration was not favorably received by those in the artistic community who thought opting-in should be the standard.
Ms Toorenent voiced that she would not be contributing her work, but that any artists who do wish to should be given the option. Additionally, when it is her work, she should decide what its fate is.
Stability AI declined to offer any comment about ongoing legal proceedings, yet in December 2022, the company's chief executive Emad Mostaque indicated in a tweet that their future models would be "fully licensed".
Equity, a union for performers in the arts and entertainment realm, says artificial intelligence is becoming an ever-growing danger to artists. Liam Budd, an audio and new media industrial representative for Equity, remarks, "We have reasonable cause to be apprehensive."
He argues that the existing legal system for creators is not suitable for the potential economic benefits of artificial intelligence technologies.
Mr Budd explains that artists could be given a singular payment of £300 ($390) for having their image or voice copied utilizing AI, however their original creation could be wielded multiple thousands or millions of times without them being recompensed in any way.
He states that there is a need for greater elucidation in law and is advocating for the Copyright Act to be renewed.
Equity introduced a toolkit in the previous year to assist artists in comprehending the pertinent matters and ensuring their safety.
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Nations are hastening to respond to these novel, potent forms of AI.
It looks like the EU is taking the initiative, since the EU AI Act proposed that AI tools must make known any copyrighted material employed for their systems' training.
This autumn, the UK will be hosting a global summit on AI safety.
Arty Rajendra, a partner at the law firm Osborne Clarke and IP lawyer, has commented that the use of AI has created numerous intellectual property concerns and he isn't certain that those utilizing AI or the AI companies themselves are aware of the fact that a vast amount of data and information processed by machines is safeguarded by intellectual property law.
Courts have yet to be petitioned to decide on the matter, but there are numerous events in the UK and US, including a Getty case, that will establish if any breach of rights has occurred and who is liable. In addition to this, questions involving data protection and morals must also be resolved. It is likely that a number of settlements and even some license fees will be the end result.
She has stated that several lawsuits have been filed by photographers via the small claims court system.
What are other artists able to do while this is happening?
Ms Rajendra suggests that Getty, a massive photography company, have watermarked their images, which could still be visible in AI created images, thereby permitting the tracking of their pictures. She also advises that creative individuals apply a similar technique.
Artists may choose to contact the AI entity for a licensing fee, and if no agreement is reached, they can utilize a small claims tracker as an alternative to an expensive law firm, she states.
Regulators are struggling to keep up, but some tools have been created to help safeguard artists.
In March, Professor Ben Zhao of the University of Chicago's computer science department and his team unveiled Glaze, a free software tool designed to guard creators from generative AI systems.
Prof Zhao mentions that Glaze takes advantage of a major distinction between the way in which humans and AI models interpret visuals.
For every image, we can evaluate a small number of pixel-level alterations that make a significant difference in how an AI art model views the artwork, while keeping the changes unnoticeable to the human eye, he explains.
When artists glaze their art, and that art is then used to train a model to emulate it, the model will see an inaccurate portrayal of the art style, meaning its imitation would be ineffective and not reflect the artist's work.
He states that Glaze is a viable option for many art forms, such as black and white cartoons, classical oil paintings, flat art styles, and professional photography.
He states that Glaze has been downloaded 938,600 times and the team has received a vast amount of emails, tweets, and messages from artists around the world. "It has been an incredible response," he remarks. I am hopeful that we may just get the victory we need,"
Ms. Toorenent is confident that artists can succeed in this struggle. "At the beginning, I was fearful because of the online hostility, but since we have come together and developed a reliable support system, I believe we are in with a chance of achieving the victory we are striving for,"
I am confident that we are progressing positively. The public opinion has shifted greatly. Before, people were proclaiming 'adapt or perish', and now they are all saying 'whoa, this isn't acceptable.'
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