Art Post: AI Does Not Equal Art

Lately, in the United States, I have been noticing some new laws regarding intimate images. They come with a lot of scary privacy issues, but just the way these laws might affect artists is alarming. The laws promise to reign in on offensive imagery, a lot of it created by people using AI.

However, the language of these new laws throws a wide lasso around all imagery, including art. Art. That thing we’ve been doing since ancient times! Mostly depicting nudies.

With just a few words in these laws, now so much art including hand-drawn illustrations, political cartoons, murals, street art, and anything else visual can be roped in with offensive content that is of a separate, harmful nature.

Art is not AI. There can be no “AI art.” There is no such thing. Why then is the entirety of visual art, a human pastime since time immemorial, being lumped together with a technology that has generally been available only in the last five years?!

We cannot have the same laws for both!

It's harmful to create a legal grey area. An area of fear and self-censorship. It is not fair for younger artists to grow up and learn in this environment. To mold their neurons to fear of being accused of something illegal or immoral, when they are not doing anything wrong, but are afraid of any accusation.

A good parallel is the world of writing. Even in general knowledge, it is known that writers do a lot of “eavesdropping”, although for them, that word can be as misunderstood as “copying” is for artists. There is a code of ethics. But the ideas and inspiration do come from real life. Then it is cooked in the writer’s creative process and imagination, and becomes something new. That is just the nature of things.

I am not talking about revenge porn or other immoral imagery. An address of non-consensual images is important, but I think a more old-fashioned law, a traditional approach like to other crimes, would have been more appropriate than burdening the victim and spreading the responsibility. Or, strengthening of existing laws. Why can’t we also address the roots of such evil behavior in our society?

I also think this situation is especially cruel for women and children. Not only are women and children mostly the ones who have been violated through immoral imagery, but ironically, it is going to be female artists and young artists who will become more cautious with what art they create and post online.

I worry about this grey zone of fear that is going to affect artists. Going into the future, I think artists need special legal protection that separates their artwork from AI-created images.

Stay strong,

Asya Carrino