The recent popularity of the Lensa app across social media has put artificial intelligence (AI) in the spotlight. While most people are having fun sharing AI-generated art of themselves, an increasing number of artists are calling out the use of artificial intelligence for art creation.
What are artists angry about?
Building artificial intelligence requires feeding it large amounts of data so that it can learn about a topic quickly. As most people know, the best place to get large amounts of data on any topic is the internet. And that’s exactly where the creators of Stable Diffusion got the data they used to build the AI. Stable Diffusion is the AI behind Lensa.
The problem is that the creators of Stable Diffusion basically scraped a bunch of publicly available images from across the internet. This allegedly includes a bunch of copyrighted material from artists who didn’t consent to this.
Artificial intelligence concerns
These artist complaints highlight important ethical issues regarding the creation and use of artificial intelligence. The large data sets used in the creation of AI raise data privacy and intellectual property red flags. They also raise concerns about bias. If you’re scraping the data of a large population to create an AI, chances are the biases of the data subjects or collectors will seep into the AI itself.
These are immediate concerns regarding the development of artificial intelligence. But there are much bigger long-term consequences to AI that many people are currently overlooking.
A brief history of technology
Some artists have called on people to commission artists instead of use Lensa for portraits. Meanwhile, Adobe has officially said they will start adding AI-generated artwork to its stock images inventory. These are bubbles on the surface of a much larger looming crisis.
Historically, technology has always caused disruption, but also provided new opportunities for the working class. When the camera came along, it may have put some painters and sketchers out of work, but they could always transition to camera work. Additionally, the creation of the camera opened up new jobs in camera construction and repair. Typically, there has been a net-gain in jobs from technological advancement.
But recently, as automation and robotics have improved, a human touch has become less necessary and the need for specialization has become more pronounced. Many blue-collar workers have already been replaced by advances in technology and now, with advances in automation, white-collar workers are beginning to join them.
The simple fact is the tech giants of today run much leaner than the manufacturing giants of yesteryear. And technological advancements aren’t always leading to a new net-gain of jobs as they have historically.
Artificial intelligence impact
Artificial intelligence is a technological advancement unlike any before it. Like most technological advancements, it’s main purpose is to make our work easier or make our necessity in project pipelines obsolete. But unlike previous technological advancements, which have at least required human input at the beginning or end of the pipeline, artificial intelligence is increasingly self-building and self-maintaining.
Artificial intelligence cannot only increasingly do what we do, except better and faster, but it can also iterate at an exponential rate. Coupled with increasingly advanced robotics, they will ultimately be able to most anything humans can do – including building and maintaining themselves. And all at a fraction of the cost and resources of human laborers.
And we should make no pretenses about this. One of the main goals of technological advancement, especially in a capitalist-driven economy, is to assist or replace human labor wherever possible to maximize profit. The other major goal is to create new products and services that consumers (including other businesses) will purchase and use.
And this is the crux of the issue. We are quickly heading toward an endgame where entire industries worth of people will be replaced with AI – leading to major net losses in job creation.
The AI Age: Bright or terrible?
So what happens when everyone is, either willingly or unwillingly, relieved of their work? As things stand currently there is going to a full-blown economic collapse accompanied by mass homelessness and starvation. There will be untold physical, social, and spiritual suffering.
There is the possibility that AI could lead to a brighter future, but only if the working class has access to AI and robotics creation and utilization. If everyone can utilize artificial intelligence and robotics, then individuals would be empowered to make new discoveries and do new things, small business owners could propel themselves to new heights, and communities could chart and execute better paths forward.
Of course, a world where people are unshackled from labor and free to explore new pursuits requires an entire paradigm shift away from the notion that a good life is earned through work. It requires providing everyone with healthcare, housing and other necessities simply through virtue of their being alive.
An AI-powered world will either make us or break us. If we start to act now to implement policies and programs that protect and uplift everyone, we might just transition smoothly into the AI Age. Otherwise, we’re in for a very bumpy ride.
A new hope for creation
I started Open Door Policy precisely because I couldn’t play an instrument and wanted to make music. Luckily I found some amazing musicians who have helped me bring out what’s in my head. And now I even play the bass!
So as someone who feels limited in my own artistic capability, I am genuinely excited about the potential AI offers me to get out what’s in my head. But not if it’s by exploiting artists or diving head-first into a dystopian nightmare.