A group of 20 artists have recently filed a class-action lawsuit against several companies using artificial intelligence (AI) to generate images and sell them without permission. The suit accuses the companies in question of creating and exploiting “unauthorized replicas of their artwork.”
AI technology has allowed companies to quickly generate millions of digital images each day. The technology has been used to generate images to be used as stock photos, advertisements, or as content for social media platforms. However, artists argue that these AI companies often replicate their artwork in order to generate these images, without permission or compensation to the original artists. In extreme cases, companies have gone as far as to reproduce the images and sell them on other websites such as Getty Images.
The lawsuit against these AI companies seeks to take a stand against the exploitation of artistic works.
The group of 20 artists is led by artist and photographer Richard Prince, one of the most well-known artists of his generation. The suit charges that “by appropriating artwork for commercial gain without authorization, the companies have infringed upon the artists’ copyrights and violated the exclusive right of authorship to control the use and disposal of their work.”
The suit also calls out the companies in question for “unjust enrichment”, citing that they have profited from reproducing the artwork without permission. The suit seeks damages for the infringement of the artists’ work, as well as compensation for the “lost, stolen, and stripped” profits the artists would have otherwise obtained.
The suit serves as an example of how technology and the digital age can have consequences for those in the creative industry, especially if the proper steps are not taken to protect the intellectual property rights of the original artist. This lawsuit is a reminder to artist, photographers, and other creatives, to be diligent and mindful of the technologies being used to generate images and other creative material.
