As part of Creative Commons’ ongoing community consultation on generative AI, we have engaged with a wide variety of stakeholders, including artists and content creators, about how to help make generative AI work better for everyone.
Certainly, many artists have significant concerns about AI. At the same time, artists are not homogenous, and many others are benefiting from this new technology. The debate about generative AI doesn’t always include these voices; in fact, the debate has too often become polarized and destructive, with artists who use AI facing harassment and even death threats.
The following open letter grew out of our ongoing consultation. It was written by a cohort of artists, with our support, and we hope it can help foster inclusive, informed discussions.
If you would like to have your name added to this list and are interested in follow-up actions with this group, please sign our form.
Updated: 29 September 2023
To Sen. Schumer and Members of the US Congress:
26 years ago this month, celebrated electronic musician Björk released her third album, saying: “I find it so amazing when people tell me that electronic music has no soul. You can’t blame the computer. If there’s no soul in the music, it’s because nobody put it there.”
We write this letter today as professional artists using generative AI tools to help us put soul in our work. Our creative processes with AI tools stretch back for years, or in the case of simpler AI tools such as in music production software, for decades. Many of us are artists who have dedicated our lives to studying in traditional mediums while dreaming of generative AI’s capabilities.
For others, generative AI is making art more accessible or allowing them to pioneer entirely new artistic mediums. Just like previous innovations, these tools lower barriers in creating art — a career that has been traditionally limited to those with considerable financial means, abled bodies, and the right social connections.
Unfortunately, this diverse, pioneering work of individual human artists is being misrepresented. Some say it is about merely typing in prompts or regurgitating existing works. Others deride our methods and our art as based on ‘stealing’ and ‘data theft.’ While generative AI can be used to exploitatively replicate existing works, such uses do not interest us. Our art is grounded in ingenuity and creating new art. It is well known that all artists build not only on the previous ideas, genres, and concepts that came before, but also on the culture in which they create. Unfortunately, many individual artists are afraid of backlash if they so much as touch these important new tools.
We are speaking out today to advocate for a future of richer and more accessible creative innovation for generations of artists to come. Artists breathe life into AI, directing its innovation towards positive cultural evolution while expanding the essential human dimensions it inherently lacks.
Sen. Schumer and Members of Congress, we appreciate the ongoing hearings, ‘Insight Forums,’ and other initiatives focused on regulating generative AI systems and that your goal is to be inclusive, pulling from a range of ‘scientists, advocates, and community leaders’ who are actively engaged with the field. Ultimately, that must mean including artists like us. We use AI tools daily and will provide an important perspective to this increasingly pressing discussion.
We see a unique opportunity in this moment to shape generative AI’s development responsibly. The broad concerns around human artistic labor being voiced today cannot be ignored. All too often, major corporations and other powerful entities use technology in ways that exploit artists’ labor and undermine our ability to make a living. If you seek to ensure generative AI’s revolutionary trajectory benefits humanity as a whole, it would be a gross oversight to exclude those in our society who are working within its potential and its limitations.
For us, generative AI tools are empowering and expressive. We use them not to duplicate others, but rather to make transformative new works and experiences. We are keenly aware of many real issues and impacts with these technologies, as well as with efforts to regulate them. And it is precisely because we use these technologies that our viewpoint is so urgent at this time.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
- Nettrice Gaskins
- Dadabots
- illustrata
- Makeitrad
- Tim Boucher
- BLAC.ai
- Thomas K. Yonge
- DeltaSauce
- Charlie Engman
- Rob Sheridan
- Tim Molloy
- Jrdsctt
- Cristóbal Valenzuela
- Weird Science
- otherfaces
- BB
- aiporium
- Manu Williams
- mezdez
- 0xCrumpet
- Charlesai
- amorvobiscum
- MidjourneyChris
- Iofeye
- Weelo
- k n y l x
- Carlos28355
- Heather Timm
- Eli leno
- ArmandaBlum
- Hj
- Dreaming Tulpa
- JeffJag
- ClownVamp
- Stephan Vasement
- Rikkar
- crownandpalette
- junk.culture
- Henry Daubrez
- crazer
- TheDigitalCoy
- Moe P. Wellington
- Historic_Crypto
- Samson Harper
- KarinaTheo
- AIbert GAN Vogh
- Marco van Hylckama Vlieg
- Elizabeth Ann West
- Karen Brown
- Gavin Shapiro
- Jeff Sontag
- JosephC
- Artist’s Journey
- The Unclean
- Tim Simpson
- SJ Klein
- Laurence Fuller
- bralynn bell
- Ai Machina
- Nuclear Samurai
- KEZIAI
- lilyillo
- Duael
- Birddog
- Altarbeast
- DocT
- Pixlosopher
- Morph_VGArt
- brightlightart
- Nathan Lands
- Farrah Carbonell
- dancevatar
- Anastasis Germanidis
- MsJoKnows.eth
- Dale Williams
- Souki Mansoor
- Ale
- Dave Villalva
- Mikki Sharp
- Carl Franzen
- Dehiscence
- vlaneART
- SRodan
- Daniel Lefcourt
- Toco Deco
- Cristina Samsa
- Johanna Wilder
- Niki Selken
- Espen Tversland
- icanseesounds
- Leo Rodman, M.Sc.
- Roberta (Robin) Sullivan
- Vasiawow
- Tonio Inverness
- Isabel Gomez
- Merzmensch
- Philipp Lenssen
- Lem Xelaza
- Chris Hackett
- lunatom
- Jeremy
- Nucksen
- A-Merk
- Kyle Shannon
- Mario Klingemann
- m2mcguire
- Zach Shukan
- Francesco D’Isa
- Anna Foley Simmons
- Feri
- Fr
- Farzin
- Cristiano Siqueira
- Lynn Cole
- WEBmadman
- Annias
- Pat Tremblay
- Mark Redito
- KAT JAK
- Bill Meeks
- Nell Fallcard
- katsukokoiso.ai
- Hidéo SNES
- Erik Sanner
- @smoozus
- Pardesco
- Patrick Amadon
- Tim Newman
- AIristowave
- Weldon West
- Matthew Ford
- Elisa Rae Shupe
- Aitrinsic
- Rene Walter
- RandomLikeU
- N1FTey
- Jason Levine
- Frenzy657
- Stephen E. Dinehart IV
- Ryan Kelln
- Gushousekai195
- Canek Zapata
- Helena
- Corey Ryan Hanson
- Amli
- AiTouin
- Teleporter Dude
- Maksym Hladenko
- Malainine
- Chase The Realm
- Haillisim
- Pete Nixon
- John Stark
- Daniel O’Donnell
- Carl.B.Bethea
- Abram
- Echopoetica
- Amos I.
- iapetus.latent
- akp
- Kevin Hower
- Mozart Bardot
- John Harvey
- Unitysh
- Dude Visuals
- César Romero Pose
- Katina McClain “Ms. Kitty”
- Kevin McLaughlin
- Eden Hopewell
- Marsha Jones
- Carrie Joy
- AD Campbell
- Kev Partner
- Kainewynd2
- Tom Fowler
- Jessica Cline
- Joelle
- Maria Warren
- Jordan Li
- Javadbmh
- Rodger Werkhoven
- Rodolfo J. Paiz
- Antoni Dol
- Annie Appleton
- Giana Vogt
- Robert Paul AKA MxVoid
- Wondermundo
- Hannah Silva
- Diego Dolph Johnson
- espinosa
- Future Primitive