AI is incredible. The technology behind generating AI images is mind-blowing and shocking. You cannot deny that, and I will explain in short how it works in this post. Many people claim that AI is “stealing their art”, and I will debunk that and explain how AI cannot generate an exact copy of an image.
Bur first: how does AI generate images?
Take a look at the following image and video below:
This is an AI neural network that guesses an image. It does this by first recognizing your image using “kernels”, so essentially neurons that detect specific patterns in images. Then it compresses it where it further processes it by recognizing more and more details. This is the white pixels that light up which you see. Eventually, near the end certain algorithms are applied to refine the output and show it. Note that this is a simplified explanation and a more complex one can be found online.
So you may be asking: how is this relevant to AI image generation? Well, if we take the neural network and reverse it, we get what is called “backpropagation”. So what that means is that instead of, in this neural network, drawing a number and it guessing it, we can specify a number and it can draw it. Sure, this may be simple with numbers, but now what if we had it trained on images of birds, and dogs and cats, we could now both show it a dog and it guesses that its a dog or it draws us a dog based on what it thinks from it’s training data.
This is a simple AI, at least the one shown here. It is a CNN (Convolutional Neural Network) designed by okdalto. Modern AI systems work on so much more complex sums and patterns which are not easy to understand. This is why I chose this one to explain AI art.
Also, AI cannot generate the same image from training data. Think about it: if you see a horse one day and you remember it, you still cannot draw an exact replica of what sits in your brain. You cannot just copy and paste things out. The same is with AI. Let’s look at an example with this AI. While it may have been fed numbers that have many different shapes, AI cannot simply copy-paste one onto the canvas. If that were true, then the AI would simply be a script. The same thing is with image generators. While it may have been fed on your art, it cannot reproduce it down to the last pixel. It may produce something similar, but it will never be the same.
Then you may say: what about the fact that AI has been fed on my data? I did not tell AI to go and copy my artwork to it’s database. That makes sense, but in a way it doesn’t. Think about it: AI is trying to simulate a brain. That’s all that it does. The only way that this problem can be solved is with this question:
Suppose I were to tell an artist to look at your photos and make something similar. The artist is human but has not seen any other art outside of yours. And let’s say that you draw horses. Now, I tell the artist to draw me a horse in your style. And off he goes drawing it. In the end he shows me something that is unique as he has taken inspiration from all your images and drawn something. Would you now consider this “stealing”?
This is essentially how AI learns. It’s just a brain in a box that learns from patterns from images. Just in a different way from humans. But it is not a script. As for whether AI should be allowed to use images in datasets is up for debate. If you want my answer, AI should be allowed to use these images. I really don’t see a problem. Because it’s output will never be the same as the output, just like the artist in the above question. Think about it – if a human were to do that, it’s called “taking inspiration”, but when an AI, a brain simulator, does this, it’s called “stealing”, “copycat”, etc. Technically, this is how you learned art too. By learning off of people’s art. So this question applies to really anyone who has drawn art.
Plus, for me at least, AI is great for stock images. Whether you are making a powerpoint, a slideshow, a document, etc, AI has great images. For example, the images you see here are AI generated, outside of my posts. AI is great for many things. It helped me code my Python Online Interpreter. Now that does not mean that I am a “fraud” for generating with AI, as many people would like to say. AI did not come up with this website idea, I did. AI did not come up with which APIs and modules it would use, I did. AI did not come up with all the styling, I did. AI did not come up with all the code, it was me and the AI. Mostly me telling the AI how to do something and it converting my words to JavaScript code. All the posts on this website are made by me, including this one. I may use AI to help me write ideas and understand concepts, but I would not just copy-paste into the website.
I think people should focus on something like my website, which shows how AI can be used in a way that benefits the site. I did not just generate the first image I saw, I looked and tried until I got the perfect one. AI is not a script. Many artists like to mislead people by showing that people who generate images with AI are lazy and awful. And here I am actually trying to help people. Whether you think that is true or not is your opinion, but I made this Python Online Interpreter for students. I made these Python Tutorials for students. And all of the tutorials were written by me outside of the java script to save your progress.
AI is an incredible technology. It has it’s goods and bads, and sure, it may one day end us all, but really, we are not paying enough attention to the good side of AI. My example is just one of hundreds of examples of people both using AI to code and in their code. As for what your opinion on AI art is, always consider the question. Personally, I think AI is an amazing technology that should not be barred. We need to only go forward with this. Let’s open AI to more developers, and one day, you may be even able to make your own AI with a few clicks. So, don’t worry, while AI may be able to produce something similar, it will never be the same. If you think an AI is bad, for whatever reason, don’t attack people who use it (I guess, except military drones). Consider if it’s actually bad, or just a growing technology.
