An #AI artist in the spotlight
A curated roundup of the most interesting stories in the world of AI-generated art.
When you put out a newsletter on AI-art and none other than the Wall Street Journal spotlights an AI artist whom you follow, you’re faced with a conundrum. Spring for the WSJ subscription so you can read the article? Or hit up a friend with a subscription to cut and paste it for you?
Luckily, there’s always the free trial subscription, which allowed me to check out James Hookway’s profile on Kris Kashtanova. I mentioned Kashtanova’s copyright case in my call for the U.S. Copyright Office to to bring its outdated policies on AI into the 21st century.
For a brief moment in the fall, it seemed that maybe the U.S. Copyright Office had finally come to terms with technology. In a surprise move, the office granted a copyright registration to AI-generated art for Zarya of the Dawn, a comic book created by New York-based photographer and UX designer Kris Kashtanova . . .
However, a few weeks after registering Kashtanova’s copyright in September, the U.S. Copyright Office notified Kashtanova that it had made a mistake and that Kashtanova could lose their copyright protection because AI-generated art was used to illustrate the comic book. Kashtanova’s attorney filed a response on Nov. 21 and they are awaiting the U.S. Copyright Office’s next move.
Hookway’s article doesn’t provide any updates on Kashtanova’s copyright but he does talk to their attorney.
The case is turning into a barometer for how AI art is treated in the eyes of the law.
“Think about photography,” says Van Lindberg, an intellectual property lawyer at Taylor English Duma LLP in San Antonio, who is representing Mx. Kashtanova, along with legal group Open Advisory Services. In the past, when photographers still used film, they spent much of their energy carefully composing the right shot. In the digital age, it’s more common to take lots of pictures and select the best—which is similar to what artists are doing with AI programs, he says.
“We’re starting to use our intelligence for curation as opposed to some other aspects of creative work,” he says. “Is that enough to sustain copyright? I believe it will ultimately be found that it is, but it’s an open question.”
A few days after I wrote the copyright piece linked to above, I came across an interview with Shira Perlmutter, the director the US Copyright Office. I had missed the article when it was published on Bloomberg Law on Dec. 29 but it’s worth bringing it up here because Perlmutter offers some valuable insight into the direction her office is heading. Perlmutter says they are looking into how to deal with works created by humans in conjunction with AI, which would seem to be describing Kashtanova’s situation.
“The more difficult cases that are likely to come up in the future will be cases where there is some level of human creativity,” she said. “And then the question is, does it rise to the level of authorship under all the case law that’s been developed over the years? So this issue was only going to get more complex and will continue to be before us.”
For discussion
Peta Pixel: ‘Lunchbox’ Replaces Photographers as the First AI Image Generator for Food - Pesala Bandara
CBR: Legendary Comics Artist Bill Sienkiewicz Sketch Gives AI 'Art' the Finger - Jeremy Blum
Decrypt: Marvel Artist Sean Chen on How Artificial Intelligence Will Shape Comics - Kate Irwin (Video)
Mezha Media: Pornpen.ai – an AI-powered image generator for erotica and porn - Taras Mishchenko
Just for Kicks
Bloomberg: The Architects Designing Surreal Worlds with AI - Gaelle Faure
Buzzfeed News: Why Are AI-Generated Hands So Messed Up? - Pranav Dixit
Tech
Gizmodo: OpenAI’s New AI-Detector Isn’t Great at Detecting AI - Lauren Leffer
NFTs and Digital Art
Stir: A deep dive into J Vega's fantastical world of AI and generative art - Manu Sharma
CNBC: Premier League signs deal with NFT-based fantasy soccer game despite crypto downturn - Ryan Browne