Public Statements

Public Statements France Opposed perspective

Generative art is eating the bottom rungs of my field

Opposed Posted by Colette Marchetti Reading time ~ 2 min

This is community opinion, not fact. Moderated before publication.

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I have been a commercial illustrator for almost twenty years, working mostly with small publishers, indie game studios, and local businesses. The work that used to pay my rent — spot illustrations, simple book covers, promotional graphics — has largely dried up, and the reason clients give me, when they are honest, is that they are using image generators. I am opposed to the way this has been done. I am not opposed to new tools. I am opposed to models trained on my work and the work of my peers without consent, without credit, and without compensation, being sold back to the market that used to hire us. I know that framing sounds dramatic. It is also accurate. Younger illustrators and visual storytellers who would have started where I started no longer have the same path in. The middle of the profession is hollowing out, and the top end is not big enough to absorb everyone. I would support licensing regimes that require data provenance, opt-outs that actually work, and meaningful compensation flowing back to creators whose work shaped these systems. I would support disclosure when generated imagery is used commercially. Until then I will keep saying publicly what many illustrators say privately: this has not been a fair exchange, and calling it innovation does not make it one.
#AI Status #Public Statements #Ethics & Safety

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