Popular Sites are Already Getting Tired of AI-Generated Art

With the rise of artificial intelligence-generated art, now comes some pushback from smaller art communities. Over the last few months, the popularity of tools such as DALLE-2, Midjourney, ROBOMOJO, and other AI art tools has risen, with cases of artists using said tools to enter contests and win. But now it seems that there is a growing segment of popular sites and the online art community who are ready to fight back against the rise of artificial intelligence-created art.

According to Waxy.org, sites such as Inkblot Art, Newgrounds, and others have made moves to either outright ban AI art, or at least curb their use with larger sites such as ArtStation and DeviantArt not making any policy related to AI-generated art.

As we reported in last week’s story about an artist winning the Colorado State Fair using an AI-generated art piece, there has been intense debate within the art community about the use of such tools and if artificial intelligence is just too far from human control to be considered an artform created by people. Some claim that anyone could just type in text descriptions with no real talent, while others claim that these tools are nothing more than an extension of the artists themselves. 

Newgrounds, a Flash games and animation community site recently made the decision to ban AI-generated art from its platform. In their statement, they were quite blunt about the practice, “We want to keep the focus on art made by people and not have the Art Portal flooded with computer-generated art.”

Like every industry in the past, new technology acts as a disruptor to established norms and it will take some time before agreed-upon rules can be created. Until then, it’s the wild west. Right now, we’re seeing artificial intelligent art grow in many dimensions. From hitting the mainstream with a segment on John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight to a terrifying AI Cryptid causing a stir on social media.

But as of right now, the popularity of artificial intelligence art tools is only rising as more and more users flock to them in order to create art they feel represents their vision. It will be interesting to see how communities evolve with these new tools.