“Artificial Intelligence is coming for art jobs!”

This doomsday warning has become all too familiar across digital platforms for artists and developers. Understandably the rapid advancement of AI technology and its integration into our daily lives and professions is indeed staggering. Today a myriad of AI and machine learning-based applications turn simple prompts into complex visual composition in seconds. As artists and creators, we stand at a pivotal juncture. While AI promises to blend AI’s capabilities with human creativity, unlocking untapped creative potential, it introduces a set of complex challenges for creative communities.

Navigating the Challenges of AI

While AI promises to blend AI’s capabilities with human creativity and unlock untapped creative potential, it is important to also consider the complex challenges that may also emerge for creative communities.

• Cookie-Cutter Outputs: Growing concern over generic, mass-produced content that lacks the unique touch of human expression and creativity. This became evident during the growth of NFTs when markets became saturated with easy to generate content. 

  
  

• Unethical and Unauthorized Data: The practice of training AI models on art data without proper consent of artists and creators raises serious ethical concerns surrounding intellectual property and creative ownership. Artists have raised concerns that this practice violates copyrights and diminishes the value of an artist’s original work. In recent years companies have been accused of using copyright materials to develop AI systems that are able to product art closely resembling the work of specific artists leading to legal and ethical debates.

  
  

• Generative Art and Plagiarism: AI-generated art has led to instances of similar or near plagiarized artworks raising concerns for artists around originality. In most egregious cases, some artworks have been entered into competitions or sold as originals without disclosure that they are AI generated or referencing a particular artist without attribution. Buyers and community members are misled which leads to a distrust of artistic communities and the nature of effort required around creativity and artistic effort. This is particularly troublesome when AI-generated art is sold or used commercially, potentially undermining the livelihoods of human artists who rely on selling their unique styles and artwork.

• Cultural Appropriation and Insensitivity: Misuses of AI in generating artwork that intentionally or unintentionally appropriates cultural symbols, motifs or styles without understanding or respect of significance has been a point of contention amongst artists and cultural communities. Developing artworks without context or sensitivity to the origins can be considered disrespectful, insensitive while perpetuating stereotypes and misrepresentations of cultural heritages.

The Bright Side of AI in the Digital Art Space

As we navigate this evolving (and sometimes distressing) intersection of AI technology and creativity it is essential to weigh and spotlight the myriad of ways in which AI technology has already begun to illuminate and enrich some digital artists in artistic endeavors.

• Automation of Tedious Tasks: The usage of AI has shown to be helpful to artists for taking over repetitive tasks involved in art creation such as exporting icons, resizing, or renaming large masses of files allowing artists to dedicate more time to creative exploration.

  
  

• Streamlining of Creative Workflows: AI-driven design platforms have seen an influx of workflow tooling such as auto-tagging of images, color correction, or removing artifacts and unwanted objects from their imagery. When AI is thoughtfully integrated into creative software, Artist's workflows can be streamlined, reducing mundane tasks and offering artists more time focused on creative vision making journeys from concept to completion smoother and more innovative.

  
  

• Simulation & Testing: AI driven simulation and testing tools that offer artists capabilities to help them predict, visualize and refine a 3D models, architecture, game design or interactive media where physical behaviors, interactions and appeal of objects are most critical. 

  
  

• Accessibility and Inclusivity Testing: Simulations that support how differently abled individuals experience and interact with designs can help highlight accessibility and inclusivity issues. This type of accessibility and inclusivity design support is crucial for artists to consider in order to develop work that can be broadly enjoyed by broad audiences including those with visual, auditory, motor or cognitive impairments. 

What Supporting Craftspeople Looks Like To Genies

At Genies, supporting our creative community of artists & makers means more than providing tools; it's also fostering an environment where an artist's creativity and integrity can flourish. Our team deliberately shaped the foundations of our ecosystem to ensure artists are equipped with the necessary resources, fair compensation, and ethical AI use. Our intention is to bring each creator's unique vision to life the Genies ecosystem by prioritizing a people-first approach to creativity within an ever-changing digital landscape.

• Ethical Considerations of AI Usage in Creation: Prioritization of the ethical usage of AI ensures that artists rights and data privacy are respected. Data usage, transparency and consent of how artists’ data including designs, models and personal information are used, stored, and protected. We believe artists should give informed consent for how their data may ever be used within an ecosystem. 

  
  

• Credit and Intellectual Property: Within the Genies ecosystem we aim to ensure clear guidelines for how an artists’ intellectual property is handled when AI is used within a creative process. We deeply believe artists should retain ownership of their creations with clear attribution protocols for AI-generated or AI- assisted work when possible. This protects the artist community and the artistic integrity of contributed work. 
  
  

• Empowering Artists with AI Tooling: Aiming to provide artists and developers with AI tools that help expand their creative possibilities without compromising their unique voices. 

• Artist & Developer Community Outreach: Through the Workshop’s Artist & Developer Partnership Beta programs we are able to foster richer dialog that embraces the good and confront the bad of AI integrations that impact AI driven platforms. Hearing directly from our community of craftspeople and makers allow the Genies team to capture pain points and feedback as we thoughtfully develop tooling and features that support our growing community.

By prioritizing and addressing these ethical considerations, Genies aims to foster a responsible, respectful and beneficial integration of AI tooling into the artistic process. We believe this can enhance the creative capabilities of our art community while ensuring that the advancement of AI within the 3D art space remains aligned with Genies’ artistic values and ethical standards. 

Looking Ahead With Genies

As a company rooted in technological innovation and artistic expression, Genies is committed to navigating these uncharted AI territories in close collaboration with our artistic and developer communities. Our goal at Genies is to embrace the benefits AI can potentially bring to our Artists and Developers, while confronting the challenges, ensuring that the AI serves as a tool for enhancing creativity and not replacing it. 

As we move forward we’ll remain dedicated to supporting the hard earned craftsmanship of our 2D and 3D artists of our community which help define Genies creative culture, ensuring that artists and developers always feel empowered and valued within the Genies ecosystem, even during this new area of digital AI artistry. If you're an artist and want to find out more about about Genies, please visit HERE.