AI-generated art offers many advantages, yet remains controversial among artists. Many fear that its creation devalues their work or may steal away creative techniques they’ve spent years perfecting. Copyright violations could arise, as many of these algorithms lack training data and history. Furthermore, art often reflects culture through history and beliefs—this lack of nuance makes AI-generated art less interesting and valuable.

1. Innovation

AI can be an extremely useful tool in creating art. However, using this technology in your artistic practice requires careful thought, as AI could compromise the overall aesthetic of your piece. AI can have negative repercussions for maintaining artistic authenticity and emotional depth, leading to overdependence on it over traditional skill-building processes.

Some artists feel that using generative AI is unfair, especially since it takes away their hard work and creative control. It can be quite disheartening when spending hours creating something only to have it copied instantly by an AI program.

2. Confusion

AI art creation has caused much debate, prompting inquiries into its legitimacy as real art and raising concerns over copyright laws pertaining to who owns an AI-generated piece of artwork.

Example: An artist could enter text prompts into an AI software program and have it generate images for them; however, since those text prompts may not have originated with them directly, potential copyright issues could arise. AI artwork may also be confusing for viewers; for instance, an AI work may depict a dog chasing a cat, while the artist may have specified another animal or scene altogether.

3. Controversy

Artists have expressed deep concern at the rising use of AI-generated images. They fear this technology will devalue their work while making it easier for companies to produce content quickly and affordably.

Since these programs can be taught to mimic virtually every style, they can discourage artists from taking risks and exploring new forms. Furthermore, this makes it easier for thieves to steal images and sell them as their own. As such, some artists have taken steps such as #NotoAIArt to raise awareness. Others have filed suits against AI companies that have used their work without permission.

4. Copyright Infringement

Many artists worry that AI-generated art will threaten to take away their livelihoods, as movies and video games increasingly use artificial intelligence to generate scenery and characters instead of paying creators directly for their efforts. The AI art controversy also raises issues around copyright law. Under current copyright regulations, AI art does not qualify for protection due to lacking “human authorship.”

However, if an end user of an AI model combines their creativity into its creation, they may satisfy human authorship criteria. This note investigates the current copyright landscape of AI art through a philosophical lens by studying theories of authorship by John Locke and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.

5. Speed

MidJourney and similar generative AI programs allow artists to produce works of art very quickly, which some feel devalues human art and leads to many being upset about this development.

These programs use databases of existing images to generate new ones in response to prompts. Unfortunately, much of this data can be scraped from the internet, making it hard to track down who owns it while also breaching privacy by including someone’s image without their knowledge or consent. Legal complications and devaluing of professional illustrators’ works may arise as AI steals their styles. They spend years perfecting their own style only to have it stolen by AI.

6. Accuracy

Artistic integrity lies at the core of what makes art memorable and authentic. While AI art generators may create visually pleasing images, they lack subjectivity and the subjective aspects that have come to define art over time.

Traditional artists spend years honing their skills, exploring various techniques to find their signature style. When AI art companies take and repurpose real artworks for profit, this devalues both those skills and the time that artists invested into producing them. It can also have negative repercussions for arts education if students are encouraged to rely on these tools instead of channeling their creative energy inward.

7. Value

People do not evaluate art solely on its technical merit; they also take into account its meaning and purpose when making assessments of its worth. AI cannot yet grasp this aspect of art, particularly with regards to cultural authenticity.

Many artists fear that AI-generated images may devalue their work. Artists spend years honing their skills and perfecting their craft; when users can type a simple prompt into an automated app to generate images similar to what they had been working on, creators could feel undervalued as the value of their labor decreases significantly.

8. Lack of Historical Context

Art is widely believed to be inextricably linked with its historical and cultural context. For instance, various art movements like abstract expressionism and impressionist painting use artistic images from their historical periods as their source material, reflecting society’s preoccupations at that point in time.

The Edmond de Belamy controversy highlights how human elements can alter people’s perception of AI-generated art, with Christie’s using humane language to raise awareness for an auction using Edmond de Belamy pieces to emphasize that creativity doesn’t solely belong to humans.

Our research indicates that this anthropomorphism impacts how people allocate responsibility and credit among human actors involved. Participants were more likely to assign blame directly to artists when the art was positively reviewed at a high price; when this occurred, they often placed it with Obvious as opposed to other more distant human actors, such as employees of Obvious.

9. Realism

Realism can be beneficial, yet it can have negative ramifications as well. For instance, it can be used to create fake photos, which can then be shared online and cause irreparable damage to an individual’s reputation. Artists spend years honing their craft. AI art’s easy availability devalues all of this hard work done by artists.

As technology develops, it’s vital that artists carefully consider how artificial intelligence (AI) impacts artistic identity, purpose, and value. A balanced approach will help ensure human creativity can coexist peacefully alongside AI technology while still allowing artists to expand their imaginations freely.