Artists protest after ArtStation features AI-generated images

ArtStation It is perhaps the most important website for professional artists, especially those in entertainment fields such as video games (Most of our Sophisticated art Links, for example, point there). Which is why the site’s continued permitting of AI-generated images has become a point of contention with its users.

Technology that is corrupt at its core, is a particular concern to the community that makes a living creating art, and therefore should be a concern to the companies responsible for owning and hosting that community. But as of today, ArtStation It does not have a policy that directly restricts the hosting or display of AI-generated images on the site, which has led to frequent instances where images generated by computers, not humans, float at the top of the site. ArtStation’s The “Exploration” section, its most famous means of displaying artists’ work.

and that’s understandable, Lots of people pissed. In fact, over the past 24 hours, several artists have become so outraged at the site allowing AI-generated images that they have started spamming their wallets, with an outcry sparked by Photographer Nicholas Cole and fashion designer Imogen Chase what causes ArtStation’s The first page looks like this at the time of writing:

It’s just the image itself, saying ‘No to AI-generated images’, pasted over and over by hundreds of artists:

These artists are right to be upset! The practice of swiping AI-generated imagery would throw off all kinds of websites, but allowing it on a site designed specifically to showcase the work of talented human artists is particularly bad-looking.

“The ArtStation Content Guidelines do not prohibit the use of AI tools in the process of creating artwork that is shared with the community,” an Epic Games spokesperson said. ArtStationI say my city. so said he, ArtStation is a portfolio platform designed to promote and celebrate originality with the support of a community of artists. Users’ portfolios should only contain the artwork they create, and we encourage users to be transparent about this process. Our content guidelines are over here. “

While this is an expected response given the prevalence of AI-generated images currently on the site, and the apparent lack of moderation involved in allowing them to remain, Epic also says that they “do not have any agreements with companies that allow them to scrape content on our site.” If the AI ​​companies are doing this without permission and beyond purely academic use (where copyright fair use may apply), they may be violating the rights of the ArtStation creators.”

Epic also says that they are “in the process of giving ArtStation users more control over how their work is shared and named, and we will provide more details in the near future.”

While this veiled legal threat is perhaps a sign that Epic isn’t quite as cool with the practice as it seems, and word that user controls are coming in the “near future” is rather promising, that doesn’t change the fact that ArtStation User portfolios have already been fed through these AI systems, and they will do nothing in the short term to prevent AI-generated images from encroaching on a website that is supposed to showcase the best of human art.

For now, the best way to detect and discard AI-generated images (or better, to report it) the same way it has been for the past few months: always ask for fingers.