Step 1: establish a presence on a social media platform and gain a small following
Step 2: take commissions from the followers
Step 3: input textual prompts and let an AI generate a digital artwork for you on the internet
Step 4: sell the AI-generated artworks as commission pieces
Step 5: profit??
No in all seriousness, artworks generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) could be a major concern for digital artists in the near future. OpenAI – an Artificial Intelligence research and deployment company – has recently introduced DALL-E 2, a new AI system, which is able to automatically create completely new images, edit existing images, create variations of the images, and even merge two input images by following textual input prompts (Mike Kaput, 2022; Ryan O’Connor, 2022). Moreover, the images generated by DALL-E 2 are incredibly realistic and are almost comparable to human-level creativity (Loz Blain, 2022). Although the concept of textual input-based image generation is not new by itself (google image search is an example of a textual input-based image generator), previous AI models were only able to generate a limited set of images within a defined space. OpenAI was able to set a new standard for the image generation and manipulation scene since it can almost limitlessly provide artworks and iterations from textual input (Mike Kaput, 2022). Notably, other tech companies are following OpenAI’s move, and are also introducing their own AI models to the market (Romero, 2022). But what does this mean for digital artists and the graphic design industry?
There are of course positive implications for digital artists and people working in the graphic design industry. First of all, digital artists are now able to access a library with limitless references and ideas, which can save a tremendous amount of time for the artists. Moreover, digital artists can enhance their creativity, simply by inputting textual prompts. Secondly, marketeers and graphic designers are able to save a lot of time and money, since these AI systems can also generate visual ideas and variations for logos, blog & website images, thumbnails, and other forms of content (Loz Blain, 2022; Mike Kaput, 2022). Thirdly, AI systems such as DALL-E 2 provide more accessibility for content creation. Traditionally, only a small number of people were able to create content, due to the high skill level required for making content. Whether it is drawing & painting, graphic design, or visual creation, it all required a set of high-level skills to be able to do it (professionally speaking of course). However, these AI systems have – to a certain extent – removed the high-skill level barrier, and thus made it more accessible to a larger group of people.
While the introduction of DALL-E 2 has given digital artists to work with, it could also have negative implications for these digital artists and the graphic design industry as well. Stock photo businesses could be heavily affected by the wide commercial availability of DALL-E 2 (and other AI models). Moreover, due to the nature of the stock photo business, which heavily relies on cheesy and inauthentic photos, it can easily be replaced by AI image generators mike (Mike Kaput, 2022). In addition, the use of DALL-E 2 and other similar AI models could disrupt the work and revenue streams of designers, artists, photographers, and visual content creators (Loz Blain, 2022; Mike Kaput, 2022; Romero, 2022). As previously mentioned, the removal of the high-skill level barrier in this creative industry can also lead to negative implications for the people working in this industry. For example, businesses can reduce the costs of hiring people that are specialized in certain areas such as design, photography, photoshop, etc. Moreover, other concerns regarding the use of DALL-E 2 are generating and distributing explicit unwanted content, fraud, misinformation, privacy issues, etc.
But what does this mean for the people working in this creative industry? DALL-E 2 and other AI models will undoubtedly disrupt the creative industry with major implications for the people working in this, albeit both positive and negative. The ethical usage of DALL-E 2 and other AI models is still in a grey area and leaves room for a wider conversation, but what can be said is that the technology powering the AI models is incredibly impressive.
Sources:
Loz Blain. (2022, July 29). OpenAI’s DALL-E 2: A dream tool and existential threat to visual artists. New Atlas. https://newatlas.com/computers/dall-e-2-ai-art/
Mike Kaput. (2022, July 20). DALL-E 2 and the Future of Design. https://www.marketingaiinstitute.com/blog/dall-e-2
Romero, A. (2022, July 7). DALL·E 2 Will Disrupt Art Deeper Than Photography Did. Medium. https://betterprogramming.pub/dall-e-2-will-disrupt-art-deeper-than-photography-did-b900b52c1ea2
Ryan O’Connor. (2022, April 19). How DALL-E 2 Actually Works. News, Tutorials, AI Research. https://www.assemblyai.com/blog/how-dall-e-2-actually-works/
I have read multiple articles and seen images created by DALL-E 2 and it is truly remarkable and astonishing what this AI system is able to achieve in terms of quality and speed in the field of graphical design and photography. I would be certainly concerned if I were a graphic designer, photographer, or an editor, seeing how easily this AI can replace diverse types of artists and designers. Which brings me to this question, what will the value of human artwork be compared to artwork created by AI? Is it going to be more valuable because it is a human creation? Or less valuable than the AI artwork? And why?
This phenomenon was quite popular since a few months ago. It’s a very intriguing technology and will most likely have a very useful purpose once it gets polished even further. Like you said, digital artists or designers might feel at risk now, however I personally believe that the AI cannot fully replace their artistic talent. Commissions done by artists are usually done based on the preferences of the commissioner and the art style of the artist. At the current stage, I do not think that AI could fully replicate these desires, however I am looking forward to the possibilities the technology has for the art community.
Very interesting article Calvin! I have once heard of it before, but did not know anything about it. This article sparked my interest and it is really impressive that AI has already reached this level of development. In my opinion, it will not replace graphic designers as those creations often have a story behind it and it is just different when you know when art is made by this or “real” artists. However, I do think businesses as logo makers, will see a fall in sales due to this. I am curious what the future of DALL-E 2 brings us!