The intersection of art and technology has stirred up a storm of controversy as thousands of artists band together in protest against the renowned auction house Christie’s. They demand a halt to its imminent sale of AI-generated artwork, accusing AI technology of committing “mass theft” of human creativity. The conflict escalates as artists express growing concerns about AI models being trained on copyrighted works without their consent. This is not an isolated incident, but rather adds to the increasing discord between the art and entertainment industry and AI technology, particularly in regards to copyright infringement.
The petition against Christie’s has already garnered 3,000 signatures from artists. The auction house has heralded the Augmented Intelligence auction as the first of its kind – a sale dedicated solely to AI-created art. The auction features 20 lots with prices ranging from $10,000 to $250,000. Works by artists such as Refik Anadol and the late AI art pioneer Harold Cohen are included in the lot.
Among the signatories of the letter demanding the auction’s cancellation are Karla Ortiz and Kelly McKernan. They have previously taken AI companies to court, alleging that these firms have used their work without consent in their image-generation tools. The letter accuses AI models of training on copyrighted work without a license, stating, “These models and the companies behind them, exploit human artists, using their work without permission or payment to build commercial AI products that compete with them.”
The letter further censures the support of these models and those who use them, asserting that such endorsement encourages AI companies to continue their “mass theft” of human artists’ work. The controversial Christie’s auction is scheduled for February 20, 2025.
The use of copyrighted work to train AI models has sparked fierce debate between creatives and tech companies. Artists, authors, publishers, and music labels have launched a series of lawsuits alleging copyright infringement. In a high-profile case in 2023, a group of authors sued social media giant Meta, accusing it of using their books to train AI models, including its large language model, Llama, which powers its chatbots.
Christie’s, however, maintains that “in most cases” the AI used to create the art in the auction had been trained on the artists’ “own inputs.” A spokesperson for Christie’s stated, “The artists represented in this sale all have strong, existing multidisciplinary art practices, some recognized in leading museum collections.”
Despite the backlash, some artists, including Refik Anadol and Mat Dryhurst, whose work features in the auction, have defended their use of AI. Dryhurst, in particular, emphasized that the piece of art being auctioned was part of an exploration of how the concept of his wife appeared in publicly available AI models, adding, “It is not illegal to use any model to create artwork. I resent that an important debate that should be focused on companies and state policy is being focused on artists grappling with the technology of our time.”
This controversy underscores the ongoing debate about the intersection of technology, copyright laws, and artistic creativity, and raises crucial questions about the future of AI in art.
