“Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ability of a machine to display human capabilities such as reasoning, learning, planning and creativity.
Artificial intelligence allows systems to understand their environment, relate to what they perceive and solve problems, and act towards a specific goal. The computer receives the data (prepared or collected by sensors, such as a video camera), processes it and responds.
Some types of artificial intelligence have been around for more than 50 years, but advances in computer power, the availability of massive amounts of data, and the development of new algorithms have led to great leaps forward in technology in recent years."
[Europarl- che cos’è l’intelligenza artificiale e come viene usata]
Reading these words, there is no doubt that artificial intelligence is a powerful ally. It is now part of our lives and helps us in some factors such as shopping on the internet, suggesting searches for the products we need, online searches on different types of information, automatic translations of texts in different languages and so on.
And this is just a small drop of the vast sea of possibilities that this one offers.
The most significant intervention of AI is certainly in the world of work, where necessary: implemented within special machinery, it can intervene in dangerous situations in which a normal human being would not be able to intervene as in places where there is been an accident, in the medical field it is making surgery and disease diagnosis easier and many other aspects that make it a wonderful ally every day.
So if AI is so useful, why is it having a riot against it?
First of all we specify that the "war" mentioned in the title does not refer entirely to AI.
For a month or more, a new platform called an "Art generator" has been launched on the web: this type of processor is capable of creating from scratch - after entering certain keywords - a real drawing: portraits, landscapes, animals fantastic… everything you can imagine, just a click away.
Yes, it looks great. But it's not.
Although it was presented as an aid for artists to simplify their work, it turned out to be quite the opposite. The initial surprise and interest has transformed within a few days into hatred and dismay and the reasons why artists have risen up against it are manifold. Here are a couple of the most important:
· this type of generator does not create drawings from scratch by magic… on the contrary, it appropriates any art it finds on the web to compose the drawing, whether it is in a digital art gallery or on an artist's social profile . This is to be considered a real theft as "theft of intellectual property".
· Another big problem is that companies that collaborate with artists are finding it convenient to use and many have already decided to replace them with it. Since an artist needs time and money to complete a drawing (whether it be on paper or digital), with this generator they see it as a time and money saving solution. Simply put, they get what they want for free.
· Thanks (so to speak) to the insertion of keywords, the AI is able to reproduce even the same drawing style of an artist. It doesn't really copy it the same, but it still manages to combine an image that looks like it was made by that person, even though it isn't. This is a big problem for artists because people who can't hire them just for a sketch can get a similar product at no cost, which represents a possible - if not certain - loss of money and customers.
As I said before, since their appearance the art generators have caused a real disaster, the situation has precipitated immediately as the days went by and it is serious that many people do not realize the seriousness of the problem. Instead of putting yourself in the shoes of artists, defending AI by extolling its usefulness and how progressive such an invention is.
Among the companies and sites that host online art galleries, someone has opened the doors to these works so that they have a place next to comics, paintings and all those works created by a person in the flesh. Of course, in the face of user protests and the threat of abandoning their platforms, many have wisely decided to turn around and ban any kind of AI-generated work. Other sites, however, have instead preferred to include the possibility of making the choice of authorizing or not the inclusion of one's work to third parties, ie the AI.
And to say that this processor isn't even as perfect as it wants to believe.
Entering inputs is no guarantee that you will get the perfect result you envision, and no matter how many attempts you make to perfect it, there will always be mistakes.
We are talking about disproportionate eyes, hands with ten fingers, objects that float without a reason and so on. A true artist would never turn a blind eye to certain details whether he made a drawing for himself or for a client. Unfortunately, those who are not part of this world will think that we artists are exaggerating, also because they don't see our profession as a serious matter.
They don't realize that this situation is causing us great harm.
It takes an artist years to study art and be able to conquer it to shape it into something of their own. And they gets it at a great price between stress, disappointments and tears.
Behind smiling characters, starry backgrounds and magical creatures, there is a person who works hard every day, between back pain and mental fatigue, to get noticed and show the world their artistic soul which is not always repaid with the right satisfaction. And then comes this Artificial Intelligence which, posing as an ally, brings chaos to the art world.
It claims to create art out of nothing, when in reality it steals and copies from whatever it finds in the digital world, often very badly.
There are people who make a living with art, pay their bills and buy food... and now they risk being fired (or are already being fired) because the machine is faster and above all free.
Art must come from warm human feeling, not cold algorithm thief.
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