What is art, anyway?
Image: Getty Images
Have yāall heard the new Drake x The Weeknd banger, āHeart on My Sleeveā? Itās great, but thereās just one...little...problem.
Itās 100% made with AI-generated voices. And they honestly do sound a lot like Drake and The Weeknd (listen here).
- The track was first posted this
weekndweekend to TikTok by a producer named, aptly, āGhostwriter.ā It racked up over 10 million views on the platform and 650,000 streams on Spotify before being taken down yesterday.
š¤ The artistsā response: Universal Music Group (UMG), the representative for both Drake and The Weeknd, released a statement yesterday denouncing the song. In it, UMG says that using its artists' music to train generative AI is a breach of copyright law. Plus, doing so prevents the artists themselves from ever getting paid.
š¼ļø Zoom out: Music isnāt the only art-form thatās being infiltrated by AI. Last week, the German artist Boris Eldagsen won a Sony World Photography Award with a photo entitled, "Pseudomnesia: The Electrician" ā but there was just one problem.
Yup, you guessed it: the photo was made by AI. Eldagsen ended up not accepting the award, saying he entered the image as a way to spark a discussion about AI. He also said that AI-generated images should not compete with traditional photography.
š Whatās the US Copyright Office have to say about all this?... The key, according to the agency, is about whether a human or AI is the primary "author" of the artwork. Last week, the agency ruled that Zarya of the Dawn, a comic book with human-written text and AI-generated artwork, is eligible for copyright protection for the text and the visual arrangement of the AI-generated images, but not for the images themselves.
š Flash poll (long-form): In your opinion, how will AI affect art over the next 20 years?
- Click here to leave a response.
See a 360Ā° view of what media pundits are saying ā
Sprinkles against mingling AI and art
- Some commentators argue that none of the recent advances in AI would have been possible without the massive and widespread theft of text, songs, and images that were obtained without the creatorsā knowledge or consent.
- Others contend that AI represents an existential threat to the livelihoods of musicians, artists, and actors unless governments can quickly and effectively enact new guidelines to shape AI usage.
- āI Make Art With A.I. Hereās Why All Artists Need to Stop Worrying and Embrace the Technologyā āAgnieszka Pilat, Artnet News
- āAI is no threat to traditional artists. But it is thrilling.ā āSebastian Smee, WaPo
- āAI āartā is not a threatā āAndrew Shu, Scot Scoop News
Sprinkles in favor of mingling AI and art
- Some commentators argue that instead of falling into the tired trope of ārobots are coming for our jobs,ā artists should be embracing all the new creative possibilities enabled by AI-powered tools.
- Others contend that AI doesnāt represent an existential threat to traditional artists, since humans have shown they crave physical goods and art in an increasingly virtual world.
- āBeware a world where artists are replaced by robots. Itās starting nowā āMolly Crabapple, LA Times
- āAI in art: a challenge that must be metā āThe Guardian Editorial Board
- āA.I. art generators hurt artists, hinder development of human cultureā āEagle Nation Online Editorial Board
Share this!
Recent Discussion stories
Discussion
Ā Ā |Ā April 17, 2023A look at the Clarence Thomas situation
āļø SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas misreported hundreds of thousands of dollars in rental income from a company that went defunct over 15 years ago, WaPo reported yesterday; while the alleged mistake is small, it's the latest in a series of financial errors and omissions Thomas has reportedly made ā
Discussion
Ā Ā |Ā April 14, 2023Should trans athletes be able to compete in womenās sports?
šš This week, ND Gov. Doug Burgum (R) signed a pair of bills into law that effectively prohibit any transgender girl or woman from joining a female sports team in grades K-12 or college.
Discussion
Ā Ā |Ā April 12, 2023Americaās new EV edict
ā”š The EPA is widely expected to propose new emissions laws later today that would effectively force more than half of all new vehicles sold in the US to be electric by the end of this decade.
You've made it this far...
Let's make our relationship official, no š or elaborate proposal required. Learn and stay entertained, for free.š
All of our news is 100% free and you can unsubscribe anytime; the quiz takes ~10 seconds to complete