Support Disabled Artists Using AI Ethically

Why use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to make images? The short answer is that my hands hurt. My back and a whole other 80% of me is classified disabled from serving in my nation's military, making it hard to work in the real world and pay traditional artists the commission they deserve. The longer answer is it’s a blast!

For now, I am asking a computer to help me create images. Now, the A.I.s I use are programmed by people, or artists, who use a collection of legally obtained and paid-for photos for a base: the A.I.s are not spontaneously creating images, or if they are, they have been programmed to do so. I pay for a few different subscription services for A.I. images. My poetic input is what drives the creation of these images. Additionally, I am committing to only using prompts with artists’ names that comply with copyright laws or have clarified that they permit this type of fair use. For more on my thoughts on Fair Use check out this post.

Additionally I think there is a misconception about how AI image creators are made and executed. It is not a simple copy and paste mechanic that crawls the internet for images, then cuts them apart to create Frankenstein's images. Its a system of teaching a machine to take these artistic values into consideration, like goal posts, but there is an original image created, that cannot, or will not, be replicated again unless specified by the user or by large mathematical odds.

the process of the creation of an image from a prompt is rigidly deterministic and given the same exact prompt with the same model (with the same dataset, training, and algorithmic tuning), will result in exactly the same image, pixel for pixel, if the same pseudorandom seed number is used...The creativity lies 100% in the human part of the process, and the rest is "just math..." Yes, under normal circumstances you will not see the same image twice. It is like hitting the lottery twice. That doesn't mean it wouldn't happen given a large number of attempts.

Again it's all down to user input.

Will I always use A.I.? Not necessarily. I love the surrealist nature of A.I. content, especially the highly human fallibility of trying to create distinguishable hands! I would also love to make enough money to commission a piece of art from a human artist. Right now, I would like to share the images the A.I. has created based on my prompts, which are my poetry.

The poetry is still mine, considering the education, time, and money spent toiling in making it. It takes me an average of two months to write a sonnet. The A.I. took a few minutes to create an image. It does not feel right to claim copyright for these images. If I Photoshop with an A.I. image, I might consider claiming copyright. If I add my words to an image in a print, I might consider claiming copyright. Regardless, images will be clearly labeled, indicating open or closed licenses.

I only want to charge a nominal fee for digital downloads and prints to cover the subscription costs. I also know people can download images for free reasonably quickly, so it's more of an honorable donation system; much like my honor system of telling you whether the pictures and words displayed are human or machine originated. This honor system is also evident in explaining that I use fictional pseudonyms, author names, and book titles in my poems to add elements of fantastic realism. All non-fictional authors will be listed in a bibliography.

MANY DISABLED ARTISTS FINALLY HAVE A TOOL OF EXPRESSION

The following is based on a real interaction:

“To the Owner and CEO at The…[Art*] Co”

First off, it's wonderful to be a new member of this group. I just want to make a small comment on a post I saw about the…drawing contest. To ask for no AI images, without also offering a separate category, can push the disabled out of the community conversation. I acknowledge that I am a disabled AI artist so I have bias. I have included this link because I don't want to blast you with words and it explains everything further in an elegant way. Thank you for the consideration and I wish you well. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ai-helping-more-people-become-artists-jim-macleod-3syoe/

Owner and CEO at The…[Art*] Co: “The AI images that we’re referring to are the ones where you input a couple of words & it gives you an image. Digital imagery & hand-drawn imagery are both still an option. If you want to use AI to use as a reference then that’s fine but a complete AI image that took no time at all is what we’re trying to avoid.”

Is it “no time at all“ for those such as Tyr the One-Handed or Odin the One-Eye, (honored disabled themselves), who use voice-to-text programs to use their tools? If Stephen Hawking, may the gods guide him forever, used an AI to turn his eye-blink-driven text-to-speech into an image, would that not be acceptable to you? Is the artistic struggle in the press of the “compile” button much like the shutter of a camera? Is the artistic struggle instead in the tens of minutes it took for him to think and type it up? Before that, how many hours did the monumental struggle to care for his basic needs take? Do we value struggle more than the content of the art? Content of the content? Can we be content with content?

You only understand the language of the “sold.”

I thought about sending the above, but then I learned about the sexism prevalent in the group. I left immediately. It’s not worth it. 

In simple terms, the one-legged man can ride a horse, a person with one hand can herd cows, and even the deaf can be useful in battle. Being blind is better than being dead because a corpse cannot benefit anyone. - HAVAMAL - THE WORDS OF ODIN

Is Sophia making a copy or making interpretation? You decide.

What most people don't realize is that one day, given enough time, all of us will become disabled: whether through accident, age, or eventually, death.

I think people get so angry when confronted with that fact is that they are truly terrified of disability and even more so than death.