Whether Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) will replace human manpower in the future has been discussed for ages. People always believe that creativity is an irreplaceable thing that cannot be performed by a computer. However, under Shutterstock’s new policy, illustrators may have to face career crisis.Ethnical and copyright issues arise with the implementation of AI-generated image
The stock imagery leading company Shutterstock has announced to partner with OpenAI to sell AI-generated stock images on 25th October 2022. They are planning to merge the AI model DALL-E 2 into Shutterstock in the coming months. Using the DALL-E API, images will be synthesised automatically just by inputting text into the system.
Shutterstock Contributors Fund
Lots of criticisms are received as the policy is released. Artists concern that their work online may be used to build up the AI models without their consent. Regarding the problem, the company responded that they will set up a “Contributors Fund” to pay for the artists’ works involved in training the AI model. In addition, the artists will receive payment as royalties when their work is being used by the AI.
Ethnical issues of selling AI-generated images
Regardless of that, some ethnical issues are still arising from the AI-generated images.
1.Copyright ownerships are uncleared
The AI generation model can create an image just by inputting the text, the images can be portrayed as any artistic style using the data collected. It is hard to define the ownership of the work created as the synthesis process of the image may involved many different artists’ works. In this way, the artists’ original authorships cannot be protected.
2. Competition among artists and AI
As the AI model make use of the artists’ works as database, it produces images with similar styles to that of the artists. In other words, the artists are competing against themselves.
3. Artists’ earnings are affected
With the help of the technology, AI model produces a picture in just a few seconds, whereas an artist may spend days or even months to create an artwork. With similar styles of artworks created, customers may choose AI-generated work instead because of a faster pace. Therefore, artists may earn less due to a decrease in sales of their artworks.
Whether AI should be used in the stock imagery industry are still under great controversy. Other stock imagery platforms, such as Getty Image is playing a safe card instead. It banned all AI-generated images due to the copyright concerns. Google, on the other hand, is still investigating on its text-to-image AI – Imagen. Before the embrace of the evolution of AI technology, there is still a long way to go.
Source: Arstechnica, Engadget
