When artificial intelligence image generators first rolled out, they seemed like magic. Churning out detailed imagery in minutes was, from one angle, a technical marvel. From another angle, though, it looked like mere mimicry.
The models were trained on billions of images without anyone asking the humans behind them for permission. “They have sucked the creative juices of millions of artists,” says Eva Toorenent, an illustrator who serves as the Netherlands adviser for the European Guild for Artificial Intelligence Regulation. “It is absolutely horrifying.”
As AI company valuations soared, the people whose work provided the bedrock for their products saw no compensation. Many artists ardently