A Big Question – Is AI Art Unethical?
Since the inception of Artificial intelligence, we have seen tons of AI tools for texts and images. Recently, AI art has gained huge traction where you can just post texts, and very compelling images are generated. But the big question, Is AI art unethical, still unanswered?
We have already seen lots of job cuts due to AI in various fields. In Dec 2023, A report published by CNBC claims that “More than one-third (37%) of business leaders say AI replaced workers in 2023”. This report also included the AI art job loss.
But just because of job loss, should we declare that AI art is not ethical? To cater to this question better, we should understand deeply what is AI art and analyze why AI art is unethical. So, keep reading this article to the end.
What Is AI Art?
AI art is a process of image generation using the AI models aka generative AI and machine learning models. The user gives prompts (texts) to the AI model and When it generates an image, it looks for metrics that correspond to the text prompt.
Midjourney, DeepAI, Jasper, etc are a few examples of popular AI art generators. The best part is that Image generation with AI is way faster as well as cheaper than art created by an actual artist. By paying a small fee, any business or individual can generate tons of images in seconds.
And this is the biggest threat to the artists who are completely dependent on the art creation. Anyone can generate beautiful art immediately, so why do they go with the real artist to waste their time and money? In another way, AI art kills the job of an artist.
So, Is AI Art Unethical?
In short, Yes, AI art is unethical. AI art is not only killing the job of an artist but also it rarely gives credit to the original artist. It must be noted that AI art generator is not a self-generating tool but it takes data and processes which is already available on the internet in the form of images, videos, text, etc.
This act is similar to copying texts and ideas of a book author without giving proper credits or royalty for their work. In that case, An author can take legal action against the copier but AI content is not yet regulated and there is no legality regarding it.
So, AI art is not just unethical but also unregulated and impacts a lot of creators including the art creators. Even worse, the small artists who are heavily dependent on their art, are not compensated for the work. Though tiny steps taken by GitHub Copilot litigation to file a lawsuit, they are not sufficient.
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Will AI Art Replace Human Artists?
Of course not. AI, whether it is text or image, is not here to replace humans but to assist with better ideas. AI art uses the data fed to its system or the data that is available on the internet. In other words, AI art has no creativity, imagination, and most importantly no emotions at all.
AI art generators are just tools that are heavily dependent on humans so that they can learn and process that data. They don’t have their brain or as said emotions to carve images. So, despite being unethical, AI art and AI image generators can not replace humans. The human artists will be there till the sun shines.
Furthermore, an artist puts his soul and emotions into every art which can’t be done via art generators. For now, indeed things are worrisome but this is because AI is evolving and it is a unique experience for every industry.
ChatGPT, the textual AI generator, claimed to disrupt content writing and web services. At that time, some intellectuals said that the content-writing industry would end and content writers would lose their jobs, had we? The same thing happens with AI art, and AI can’t replace human artists.
Final Verdict – Is AI Art Unethical?
AI art is not ethical because it copies the art and text of the original artist without giving any credit which is ethically and legally unacceptable. However, we should remember that Artificial Industry is still evolving and has a long way to go before making any claim.
There are AI tools for texts like ChatGPT, Gemini, AI art tools, Music tools, etc that are very helpful for humans in various ways. But it is also true that the AI industry needs to be regulated as soon as possible and there should be defined laws.
