The explosion of AI art has become an issue for small art communities online. As websites dedicated to human art become overtaken by AI generated images, communities are starting to turn against the technology.
First reported by Ars Technica, AI art is seeing a tremendous amount of backlash from online art hubs. With AI like Midjourney and Stable Diffusion already under fire from the community as a whole, is this bad news for generative art?
Art Community Vs AI Art
In a surprising attack on artificial intelligence art programs, multiple communities are performing sweeping bans on generative images. Small art communities such as Newgrounds, Fur Affinity and more are fighting against the generative content being uploaded online.
With established human artists already finding it hard to make ends meet in the modern gig economy, the introduction of AI art is an issue. While perfect for those on low income who require artwork, AI-powered artwork is pushing some artists away in favour of automation. Even if it isn’t always perfect.
In two individual statements, both Newgrounds and Fur Affinity announced that they are working to protect human artists. In the first statement, Newgrounds said:
“We want to keep the focus on art made by people and not have the Art Portal flooded with computer-generated art."
The other website release its statement, saying: “Our goal is to support artists and their content. We don’t believe it’s in our community’s best interests to allow AI generated content on the site."
Read More: AI artwork wins competition, real artists are infuriated
Should generative art be banned?
The idea of outright banning AI artwork is likely going to see pushback from a number of AI fans. While we do enjoy testing new AI services such as Midjourney, there’s no doubt that it is going to lead to the replacement of artists.
In recent months, some AI zealots have even celebrated the destruction of human art. These fans are so excited about the end of human-create art that they await a fictional “singularity”. However, that time may never come.
Services such as Newgrounds are closed, clique communities, and they should absolutely be able to ban AI artwork and promote human creations. However, these types of sweeping bans likely won’t come to mass social media like Reddit, Twitter or Facebook.
As soon as solid generative programs went live, their stamp on the art community became irreversible. As it stands, AI art is here to stay, but small communities should be celebrated for protecting human art while and where they can.