Lately, it’s been especially hard for visual artists. For many, these pursuits are merely a pastime, and though more creatives are gaining exposure than ever, there are also more people pursuing these passions than ever before. So imagine the sense of defeat and helplessness that these artists feel, pouring their hearts and souls into trying to take their art from hobby to career, when OpenAI released Sora 2. Social media feeds have become flooded with AI-generated slop content. AI generated art has been around for awhile now, but in terms of social media presence and popularity, video and animation has attracted the masses more than ever before.
Whether digital or physical, artists labour to perfect their craft. Technique doesn’t come easily and the work, materials, and time that go into a piece of artwork only add to how dauntingly impressive the final product can be. But, in the past couple months, many other media and tech companies have unveiled services of their own, similar to Sora including Meta’s Vibes, YouTube’s Veo 3, xAI’s Grok Imagine, and TikTok’s Symphony. Users have flocked to these services in droves, raising important questions about the demand of such things, whether artists themselves will be slowly replaced, and whether the perceived value of these products is worth it, given their potential drawbacks.
Whether rendering animation or perfecting brushstrokes, the amount of knowledge and expertise contained within such fields are extensive and require patience and talent to learn. But no matter how passionate, many such artists will still struggle to make a living off of their work. It’s not just about the money, it’s feeling their work is becoming devalued. With the popularity of image generation, anyone can “be an artist”, but calling generative AI a medium for a new sort of creator is a bit of a misrepresentation. In July, Brandon Sanderson, author of the Mistborn (2006-) series and The Stormlight Archive (2010-), spoke out while presenting an illustration created by Ben McSweeney for one of his novels, saying that so-called AI artists (sometimes labelled prompt engineers) are little more than art directors commissioning a piece of work.
“I would never put my name as the artist on this piece of art … He did the art. Now, I gave him the prompt, yes. I asked for it, I commissioned it, I pushed him on it, but it’s his art … Being an art director does not give you ownership over the piece … no matter how good your prompts, no matter how much you refine — you aren’t making the art.”
So, cut and dry then? AI content will gain popularity and novelty, but surely folk are in the Sanderson camp and don’t genuinely believe generative AI will replace artists wholesale? Though debate around the merit of AI art is inevitable, are there any indicators beyond conjecture? Should artists be fearing job insecurity more than they already have to? According to investors and users, there is reason to be concerned, but given the backlash and short-lived media spotlight of the platform, it seems it will still be a while yet before companies like OpenAI will manage to jump the many hurdles in their way.
Electricity use alone has already become a bit of a roadblock, and consumers aren’t pleased with the burden being offloaded onto their shoulders. And even with their hastening growth, OpenAI struggles to profit. It turns out even at these scales, it’s hard to convince people to buy your art. That’s not to mention the challenges these tools pose to politics, enabling hate speech, copyright infringement, misinformation, other creative fields like stand-up comedy, and the status quo of the internet itself.
I think AI poses too many questions, morally, legally, and logistically, for it to continue advancing at its current rate. So artists may still yet hold out hope that proper legislation will come for image and video generation before creatives are made obsolete (an eventuality I am optimistically certain will never come to pass). In a perfect world, these are problems that will be solved and AI will be put to some good use, rather than threatening to drain the human soul from all artistic endeavors. But for now all we can do is continue to rebel, speak out, and appreciate the little wins where they come.
