AI Art Software is a Game Changer. But What’s the Catch?
Written by Beren Goguen (human)
AI art software is “having a big moment.”
Okay, a massive moment.
Between AI art tools like Midjourney and the incredibly popular ChatGPT that released late last year, the AI tech scene has rapidly evolved into a cultural and technological phenomenon – and we still don’t fully understand all the implications this will have on how we get information, communicate, and work.
AI completely changed the game.
Until a couple months ago, few people could create stunning, custom graphic art themselves. They’d have to hire a freelance artist, pay them a couple hundred bucks (or more), wait weeks or months, then get ONE piece of art.
So yeah, most people weren’t doing that.
Then comes artificial intelligence deep learning models like Stable Diffusion, DALL-E, and Midjourney. Now, you just enter a text prompt like “imagine Arnold Schwarzenegger holding a honey badger in an English garden” and actually get something that looks remarkably like that in about 15 seconds.
And you own it. It’s yours to use.
Holy cow. That’s insane.
AI art is the biggest thing to happen in visual media since… ever.
And it’s still just in public beta.
Imagine what it could be in a couple years.
Now, this Arny image is far from perfect, obviously. The guy looks more like a young Thomas Jane than Arnold. The badger looks like a weird bear-tiger-thing, and its rear end is, uh… missing? Also, what’s up with the badger’s right paw? And the guy’s left hand… well.
AI still has a lot of trouble with hands.
But I got this after one Midjourney prompt. No editing. With some tweaking, I could probably get a better version.
It’s still early days, folks!
Bottom line: This is miles better than I could ever do – and it took Midjourney less than 30 seconds. That’s incredible.
There’s no denying it: AI as a tool will massively speed up content conceptualization and creation.
It won’t replace entire jobs – yet – but it almost certainly will in the near future. If you’re a graphic artist or copywriter, you’d better get used to the idea of using AI as a tool for working more efficiently. If not, prepare to become obsolete.
And yeah, it’s a little scary and weird (SkyNet vibes?) But also pretty amazing.
We’re in the Wild West of AI Art Right Now
Not everyone is super stoked on AI art, and artists are currently the biggest detractors (yes, shocker).
But they may have good reason to be upset.
For one thing, AI companies like Midjourney and StabilityAI did not ask for permission before feeding billions of images (many of which may have been copyrighted) into their machine learning models.
This has resulted in a fairly high-profile lawsuit brought by several artists, and another more recent suit from the Getty Images company.
The creators of these AI tools contend that training their software on copyrighted “data” is protected by fair use (at least in the United States).
Now it’s up to the court system to decide if AI companies have infringed on copyright law. Most likely, there will be a settlement and some option for artists to “opt out” of having their work used to train AI software. But these AI art tools probably won’t get shut down. They’re just too massively popular and too well-funded.
And even if some get shut down by lawsuits, others will spring up.
Nobody can put this genie back in the bottle.
Will There Be AI Regulation?
This all begs the question: At what point does Uncle Sam (and other non-US government agencies) get involved?
According to Harvard Business Review, it’s not a matter of if there will be AI regulation. It’s a matter of when (and to what extent).
It’s going to happen. It needs to happen. But it’s still early.
Like any new technology, advanced AI tools bring about both amazing benefits and risks.
Ultimately, there’s a LOT of money involved, and money talks. Huge companies like Microsoft wouldn’t be investing millions into this tech if they didn’t think it was a game changer. I have no doubt that some regulation is absolutely necessary and will be good for the community, especially to protect people, protect privacy, and prevent (or at least mitigate) harm.
The new AI revolution is here to stay, and it’s impact will only grow.
Accept it or get steamrolled by it. Your choice.
At Alchemy, PBC, we’ve chosen to embrace it and run with it (while trying to also be responsible). Where exactly AI can take us, well, that’s the most exciting part (and also a little scary). But all new frontiers are a little bit scary.
What excites us are the almost endless possibilities for rapid creative development and expression.
So let’s go boldly (but not blindly).
“Once a new technology rolls over you, if you’re not part of the steamroller, you’re part of the road.”
Note: This article is 100% human-written content with 100% AI-created art.
