by Gianna Murphy
Artists and writers are being forced into difficult situations because of the rapid advancements in AI, and it has now become the centre point of almost every decision regarding their work.
In an ever-changing and evolving world, it’s so hard to imagine that everything we currently have has any sort of longevity. As technology and, specifically, artificial intelligence moves forward and begins to take over the jobs of human workers, no profession is safe from extinction. One of the newest on the list of possible extinction is art. From cave wall drawings, and handwritten novels, art has played a humungous role in the progression of our society. It tells the stories of people’s lives, be it through the means of digital art, traditional, or the written word, and after centuries upon centuries of existing, the future of art as a profession currently hangs in the balance.
30-year-old, Shirin Mir, took the plunge and began posting under the username ShirMirArt on Twitter/X in 2018. Since then, Mir has gained quite a following across different social media platforms through posting primarily ‘fanart’ pieces, which is art inspired by or for other pieces of media, such as books and films. However, in building this following and sharing their art to such a wide audience, this puts their work at risk of being stolen for purposes of AI. “Truthfully, I’m hoping the novelty will wear off, and the limits of the technology will show,” Mir says. “[AI] will always need a human to base itself off, so artists will always be needed.”
A video posted by Mir, showing the process of how they created one of their most famous pieces. Used with permission.
Artists’ fear of their life’s work becoming stolen fodder for the newest trends, and ChatGPT prompts is an all too real and frightening normal for digital artists globally. So much so, that they’re now being forced to either screen their work with a protective layer to lower the risk of it being stolen by AI, or to post their artwork on platforms outside of the ‘Big Three’ (Instagram, Twitter/X and TikTok).
Mir bravely reveals how these technological developments have been affecting their relationship with creating and putting out pieces of art. “Mentally, it has definitely had an impact,” she says, “it makes you wonder why you do what you do, but it gives you opportunities to grow even more and create even more.
I don’t find it has discouraged me at all in the art. As to how I share it, I take extra measures to protect it, with adding specific filters that mess with AI and make it harder to feel into the database.”
While these methods aren’t always guaranteed to be “anti AI”, it provides at least a little bit of peace of mind for creatives to carry on pursuing their passions and careers.
While Shirin chooses not to show her face on her platforms, she instead chooses to use self-portraits for her profiles.
On the other side of the art spectrum, another career within the arts that’s being immensely affected by the use of AI is the writers and authors. On March 20th of this year, The Atlantic broke the story that Meta had been using book piracy site, LibGen, to train artificial intelligence. LibGen is one of the most populated book piracy sites worldwide, with millions upon millions of stolen books having been uploaded to their database, all of which were used to train generative AI to write both fiction and non-fiction. The Atlantic provided a search bar for authors and writers to check if their work had been used, and subsequent outrage broke out both online and in print.
Author Lilly Busatti (Dancing in a Crowded Room, Kira and Oliver’s Ocean Fling) is outwardly vocal about her disdain and hatred for AI in all forms, something she has even written into her books. “It’s damaging creative freedom!” Busatti says. “And I’ve seen TikToks with people who are using artificial intelligence to do their homework and write their essays,”
Busatti’s fear of the future of artificial intelligence extends from her career as an author but also as a student, where she’s just graduated from Friends University in Kansas, United States. She spoke candidly about how much she believes the arts will be affected by this technology, saying that “it’s super scary to know that in 10 or 20 years, the degree that I’ve worked so hard to get could be completely overtaken by AI storytelling.”
She then went on to reveal that she’s “deeply worried about [her] future as an author due to the increase in AI generated fiction,” which no doubt has been further fueled and ignited by the breaking news dropped by The Atlantic.
Much like Shirin Mir, Lilly Busatti has ensured that every move she makes publicly regarding her art and work is intentional and gives her work the best fighting chance against the theft and use of her books without permission. “I made the executive decision to not post snippets of my work anymore and simply promote the characters and talk about the storyline.” Busatti revealed she does this to give herself peace of mind that her work is somewhat safe.
Lilly Busatti celebrating the release of her sophomore novel, Kira and Oliver’s Ocean Fling
While it’s wonderful that artists are taking the necessary steps to continue their passions, rather than giving up on them entirely and letting the arts succumb to AI, it’s dystopian that they have to at all. These inhumane and damaging practices of obtaining and producing AI art and written pieces is making the creation and publication of art exhausting for artists.
For more of my interview with Lilly Busatti, check out the full clip of our interview on Soundcloud! https://soundcloud.com/gianna-murphy-284077962/how-ai-art-is-affecting/s-4mlJUFwQK3G?si=e012b00cfd3f41fc92814b19bb3609ad&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
