The image-sharing site ArtStation has become the latest flashpoint in the debate over A.I.-generated art.
Richard Whiddington, December 16, 2022
When A.I.-generated images began appearing on the homepage of ArtStation in early December, its users protested. They announced their discontent with a blunt image of a stop sign that read: “No To A.I. Images”. Within a week, the picture had been uploaded thousands of times and began dominating the platform’s trending page.
The reasoning behind the protest is simple; ArtStation users don’t want a platform they use for sharing and networking purposes to support A.I. images that have been generated through the theft of artistic labor and creativity.
“I am really considering removing my art online from places such as Artstation,” Suzanne Helmigh, art director at Ghostfire Gaming, told her 43,000 Twitter followers. “If the point of creating art is lost, and all our work is good for is to be fed into a machine, to be abused and Frankensteined into some A.I. visuals.”
An anti-A.I. poster by artist Mignon Zakuga. Photo: Mignon Zakuga.
In response, the platform, known as a hub for game, film, and anime artists, defended its position and had moderators remove the anti-A.I. images. Users were enraged and continued posting their protests, some with the addendum “Round Two, You’re Not Listening”. By December 16, ArtStation had updated its A.I.-focused FAQ page, though it hadn’t exactly disavowed A.I. generators and their images.
The update announced that ArtStation had added a “NoAI” tag that allows artists to stop their work from being included in A.I. systems. But users were still not appeased. First, because the platform has made opt-in its default position; and second, because users are required to apply “NoAI” tags one-by-one to their artworks. ArtStation has suggested it will allow users to remove A.I. images from their home pages, though it hasn’t set a date for that yet.
The creativity of artists protesting is so beautiful.#AIart #artstation pic.twitter.com/QKyyP0sder
— Joyce Silva (@joysilvart) December 14, 2022

The tone of the statement from ArtStation, which was launched in 2014 and claims to have more than 3 million users, seemed to undermine the sense of community that has made it so popular.
“Artists should be free to decide how their art is used and we don’t want to become a gatekeeper, with site terms that stifle A.I .research and commercialization,” ArtStation wrote on its “Use of A.I. Software” page. “Choosing not to use the tag leaves copyright law to govern whether or not the artwork was fairly used.”
ArtStation wrote that neither it nor its parent company, Epic, have business deals with A.I. art generators, but didn’t respond to our request for further comment.
The disagreement between artists and the platform mirrors one that broke out on DeviantArt, another longstanding site for art-sharing. Together, they capture the anxiety of working artists, who have seen the popularity of A.I. image generators, such as Midjourney, DALL-E, Lensa AI, and Night Cafe, soar over the past 12 months.
Several of these platforms run on Stable Diffusion, an open source dataset. Removing their work from the next update to the database, set to be released in the coming year, may well be the starting point for artists to push back against A.I. Even then, the debate between creators and platforms seems set to continue.
 
 
More Trending Stories:
The Art World Is Actually Not Very Creative About What It Values. What Would It Take to Change That?
‘It’s My Damaged Rembrandt’: New Book Asserts a Downgraded Portrait of the Dutch Master Is the Real Deal
Introducing the 2022 Burns Halperin Report
Possibly the Oldest Pair of Levi’s Jeans, Salvaged From an 1857 Shipwreck, Just Auctioned for a Deep-Pocketed $114,000
Mr. Brainwash, Made Famous in the Banksy Documentary, Opens His Own Art Museum Where Guests Enter Through the Gift Shop
 
Click Here to See Our Latest Artnet Auctions, Live Now 
 

Share
By Richard Whiddington, Dec 23, 2022
By Annikka Olsen, Dec 5, 2022
By Sarah Cascone, Dec 16, 2022
By Artnet Gallery Network, Dec 16, 2022
©2023 Artnet Worldwide Corporation. All Rights Reserved. ';
$('body').append(ouibounceScript);

// Add animation css
addCss('https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/animate.css/3.5.2/animate.min.css');

if (generalSettings.loadFontAwesome) {
addCss('https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/font-awesome/4.7.0/css/font-awesome.min.css');
}

// Check if ouibounce exist before calling ouibounce
var initOuibounce = setInterval(function() {
if (typeof ouibounce !== 'undefined') {
appendNewsletterSignup();

var $modal = $('#ouibounce-modal');
SignupForm.init($modal.find('form'), function onSuccess() {
//hide form fields and show thank-you message
$modal.find('.form-row').hide();
$modal.find('.newsletter-signup-thank-you').fadeIn('fast');

setNewsletterCookie('signedUp', 1);

//after successful signup, hide the signup bar after 5 seconds
setTimeout(function() {
closeSignupBar();
}, 5000);
});

// Handler for close signup button
$('body').on( 'click', '.close-signup', function(){
setNewsletterCookie('closedSignupBar', 1);
closeSignupBar();
});

ouibounceAPIaccess = ouibounce(
$modal[0], {
aggressive: true,
sensitivity: 50,
callback: function() {
slideInModal('Down');
}
}
);

clearInterval(initOuibounce);
}
}, 100);
}

function slideInModal(upOrDown) {
$('#ouibounce-modal')
.removeClass('slideOutDown slideOutUp')
.addClass( 'slideIn' + upOrDown );

setNewsletterCookie('recentlyShown', 1);
}

function setNewsletterCookie(cookieName, value) {
//exdays*24*60*60
var settings = cookieSettings[cookieName];
var expirationMinutes = settings.expiration_minutes;
if (!expirationMinutes) {
expirationMinutes = daysToMinutes(settings.expiration_days);
}
setCookie(cookieName, value, expirationMinutes);
}

function daysToMinutes(numDays) {
return numDays * 24 * 60;
}

/**
* Generic setCookie() method, used by setNewsletterCookie().
* There is probably no need to call this directly - use setNewsletterCookie().
*/
function setCookie(cname, cvalue, expMinutes, prefix) {
//default prefix is 'artnet_newsletter_'
if (prefix == undefined) {
prefix = 'artnet_newsletter_';
}
var d = new Date();
d.setTime(d.getTime() + (expMinutes*60*1000));
var expires = "expires="+d.toUTCString();

//console.log(prefix + cname + "=" + cvalue + ";" + expires + ";path=/");
document.cookie = prefix + cname + "=" + cvalue + ";" + expires + ";path=/";
}

function getCookie(cname, prefix) {
//default prefix is 'artnet_newsletter_'
if (prefix == undefined) {
prefix = 'artnet_newsletter_';
}
var name = prefix + cname + "=";
var ca = document.cookie.split(';');
for(var i = 0; i
artnet and our partners use cookies to provide features on our sites and applications to improve your online experience, including for analysis of site usage, traffic measurement, and for advertising and content management. See our Privacy Policy for more information about cookies. By continuing to use our sites and applications, you agree to our use of cookies.
You are currently logged into this Artnet News Pro account on another device. Please log off from any other devices, and then reload this page continue. To find out if you are eligible for an Artnet News Pro group subscription, please contact [email protected]. Standard subscriptions can be purchased on the subscription page.
Log In

source