Unfortunately generative AI doesn’t suck anymore. Before, I was easily able to spot AI images by counting fingers or teeth, but now, more data has been collected and the algorithms are more refined, making the images more realistic. Newer models grow more and more convincing to me by the day, and I’m second guessing every image I see now.
I struggle to find genuine references for my art and not hastily prompted generative AI art that dominates nearly every website now. Try as I may to pretend that generative AI art is just a phase that people will get over, I’m blasted with news of artist layoffs and new generative AI animation projects. Generative AI has taken over the artist’s world, and it won’t be going away.
While I’d like to believe that generative AI can serve to benefit the art community in some way, it only seems to be pushing down artists. Generative AI gives instant gratification to those seeking art, and now artists are being shoved to the side by corporations to save time and money. Artists have never been fairly respected even before AI, and finding a lucrative career is rare. Contemporary artists that do make names for themselves and appear in galleries are mocked online. At many animation studios, animators are paid near minimum wage and overworked. With the rise of generative AI art, I’ve seen a growing disrespect for art, with many trolls online commenting on artists’ posts that they’d be losing their jobs, or that artists were becoming obsolete and unnecessary. Even companies have been taking this stance. Coca-Cola released an AI generated Christmas commercial, and just recently I saw an ad for a game, AFK Arena, which used generative AI art instead of its own distinctive art that it’s used for years. It’s clear that corporations are looking to save money by using AI, even if it requires cutting off the artist.
So … is all hope lost for artists? Is art going to be taken over by machines?
Although I have no doubt that companies will use generative AI to save money by replacing more artists, non-AI, human-made art isn’t replaceable. People will still value human art and pay for it, and not all corporations are eager to switch over to AI. For example, Wizards of the Coast, which owns both Dungeons and Dragons and Magic: The Gathering, banned the use of generative AI in their artwork.
“The core of our policy is this: Magic and D&D have been built on the innovation, ingenuity, and hard work of talented people who sculpt these beautiful, creative games. As such, we require artists, writers, and creatives contributing to the Magic TCG and the D&D TTRPG to refrain from using AI generative tools to create final Magic or D&D products,” Magic the Gathering stated on their website.
For many artists such as myself, art isn’t just about making money, but about the joy that comes from creating art. Although AI will most likely continue to grow and develop, artists will still continue to create. After all, many artists make art to express themselves, and generative AI will never be able to recreate the joy that it gives you.
