As an artist and a teacher the issue of artificial intelligence has come up a lot lately. I’ve see posts on social media about it from artists and writers, and there have been conversations with teachers and administrators.
Artists worry that AI will have dire consequences since anybody can enter some random words as a prompt and get some sophisticated visual responses. Designers and illustrators worry that businesses and clients will opt for cheap AI generated imagery instead of paying actually people. All of them worry about copyright infringement as the AI systems pull from images, photos, and artwork online created by actual creators, and so the question arises: Are these systems actually making money from using the work of others without their permission. There’s still so much to figure out.
Educators are worried about the implications AI has in their classes in regards to cheating and students using AI generated text for class assignments and essays. Students can now type in the question from the homework or college essay and get a reasonable answer. The ease of use and the instant access just exacerbates the situation. Educators wonder what it will all lead to, and how to deal with it. There’s so much that is unknown.