AI against the world

Yesterday, we opened nominations for the Golden Kitty awards, so go nominate your favorite products today!

Also in today’s Digest: The rise and rise of AI for photos, videos, and ads.

Thanks to the explosion of AI image generators, there are a ton of new ways to get your paws on creative assets for a product launch or marketing campaign.

Synthesys X is a chrome extension that creates variations of existing images using AI, but it’s been stirring up debate in the comments around what constitutes ‘Fair Use’ (i.e. should marketers have to get permission from the artists who created the original artwork?)

Truthfully, it was only a matter of time before we started using generative art for commercial purposes. And, as with all the most exciting emerging technologies, ethical considerations are controversial and crucial.

Advocates say that the art produced by AI is original and unique. It’s one of the key value props in marketing (imagine getting an image for free that no other company has — goodbye, stock photography). Opponents say this art is not actually original. You’ll find techies and artists on both sides of the argument.

Text-to-image AIs like AI Photo and Memorable Ad Maker can be used to create ad imagery from a few simple word-based prompts, so these feel like safer bets, but still use what they learn from art on the internet to produce new art.

Authorship advocates, makers, and creators are making moves towards self-regulating the proliferation of potentially copyright-infringing AI apps.

Tools like Originality and Detect GPT are capable of identifying GPT-3 and ChatGPT-generated text content, for example, but for right now, spotting rights-violating AI-generated imagery doesn’t seem to be quite as straightforward.

If recent history is any indicator, it’ll be a long while before regulators make a decision and catch up with innovators.

When it comes to arguing AI vs. Authorship, what is your position?

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