Will painters lose their jobs as AI painting arrives?

Not long ago, a hot search on Weibo about the AI ​​painting "Space Opera" winning the digital art category championship in an art competition attracted people's attention to AI painting.

Figure 1: Space Opera

Image source: Internet

Figure 2 Screenshot of Weibo hot search

Image source: Internet

This work was created by a game designer using the AI ​​painting tool Midjourney, which has caused quite a bit of controversy. Will this be a sign of the coming winter for traditional painting?

Today, let’s talk about AI painting.

1. What is AI painting?

AI is the abbreviation of Artificial Intelligence. Simply put, AI is the simulation and extension of the functions of the human brain.

To put it simply, AI painting uses computer technology to imitate human painting art. You only need to enter keywords or a paragraph in a specific software to generate the picture you want with one click.

Figure 3 AI painting collection animation

Image source: Internet

The growth of AI paintings this year is closely related to the increase in AI painters, the increase in AI painting tools and the convenience of using the tools.

2022

FebruaryDisco Diffusion

April DALL-E 2 and Midjourney

Imagen and Parti models released by Google in May

Stable Diffusion at the end of July

In August, Baidu released “Wenxin Yige” at the China Image and Graphics Conference.

Figure 4 Schematic diagram of some of the above tools

The pictures are from the Internet

2. Side A and Side B of AI Painting

The amazing technological iteration and dimensionality-reduction-style artistic creativity have brought AI painting into people's attention.

Figure 5 Tsinghua AI “Huazhibing” painting

Image source: Internet

On the one hand, AI painting does extend the boundaries of art, and many people can get the pictures they want without professional training. At the same time, AI painting is not without value, and its potential economy is also unlimited.

An AI painting titled "Portrait of Edmund Bellamy" was sold at a Christie's auction for more than $400,000. Baidu once sold four of its AI paintings as digital collections, with sales exceeding $170,000.

Figure 6 AI painting worth $400,000

The Portrait of Edmund Bellamy and His Author

Image source: Internet

On the other hand, the popularity of AI painting has also given rise to the voice that bad money drives out good money. With only a simple text description and a few attempts, AI can generate several pictures that meet the requirements without any cost.

The existence of AI painting has undoubtedly replaced some traditional painters. Similarly, whether using AI works to participate in the competition is unfair to other contestants also needs to be considered.

A core issue regarding AI painting is copyright. There is still debate over who is the first author between the AI ​​artist and the AI ​​tool. At present, the ownership of copyright for AI painting has not been clarified in China, and there is also a lack of clear regulations for reference internationally.

In addition, copyright issues can lead to plagiarism issues. AI painting relies on the capture of big data to support sufficient algorithms. For those human painters who are accidentally captured by AI, whether this AI capture behavior constitutes plagiarism is also a question worth discussing.

Figure 7 "User Agreement and Privacy" by "Wenxin·Yige"

Image source: Internet

3. Art is ultimately human art

Although AI painting still faces some controversies, it is certain that the technology behind AI painting is still developing rapidly. More and more AI painters will appear, and more and more AI paintings will be born.

AI painting is certainly a subversion of traditional artistic concepts, but it remains to be seen whether AI painting can completely replace human painters.

Oscar Wilde once said in "The Decay of Lying": "Art has an independent life, just as thought has an independent life." Although AI painting is developing rapidly today, it is ultimately not independent art with thoughts.

Figure 8 The world famous painting "Guernica" by Picasso

Image source: Internet

David Holtz, founder of the Midjourney painting tool, once responded: "I think artists are not just about the producers of images. Art is often about stories and emotions, and AI has no stories and emotions. The narrative of the images created by AI comes from the people who use it."

AI itself does not understand art. Just like a paintbrush can draw gorgeous lines and a musical instrument can play beautiful music, AI itself does not create beauty, beauty just comes from it.

Figure 9 The most expensive photo ever sold: Rhine 2

Image source: Internet

Do you think AI painting can replace painters? Feel free to leave a comment in the comment section to discuss.

References:

When AI starts to paint explosively[J]. Contemporary Workers (Edition C). Science and Technology Information. 2022(05)

Sources:

China Today, Southern Metropolis Daily, Toutiao, Zhejiang Daily, AI Technology Review

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Author/Tang Yu

Editor/Muzi