AI Art is Theft: Labour, Extraction, and Exploitation, Or, On the Dangers of Stochastic Pollocks

Abstract

Since the launch of applications such as DALL-E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion, generative artificial intelligence has been controversial as a tool for creating artwork. While some have presented longtermist worries about these technologies as harbingers of fully automated futures to come, more pressing is the impact of generative AI on creative labour in the present. Already, business leaders have begun replacing human artistic labour with AI-generated images. In response, the artistic community has launched a protest movement, which argues that AI image generation is a kind of theft. This paper analyzes, substantiates, and critiques these arguments, concluding that AI image generators involve an unethical kind of labour theft. If correct, many other AI applications also rely upon theft.

Post-review. 18 pages. Accepted for publication in FAccT'24

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Cited by in corpus (4)

• From tools to thieves: Measuring and understanding public perceptions of AI through crowdsourced metaphors
• Un-Straightening Generative AI: How Queer Artists Surface and Challenge the Normativity of Generative AI Models
• Public Opinions About Copyright for AI-Generated Art: The Role of Egocentricity, Competition, and Experience
• "Unlimited Realm of Exploration and Experimentation": Methods and Motivations of AI-Generated Sexual Content Creators