During a recent Twitch broadcast by art streamer ato1004fd, in which they created a Genshin Impact art piece live, one viewer allegedly took the in-progress artwork and fed it to an AI generator. The viewer then posted the AI-completed piece and claimed it was their own work.
The viewer—who posted to Twitter under the name musaishh before deleting their account—proceeded to say ato1004fd was the one who stole from them, claiming that because the artist posted their work around five to six hours after they uploaded the AI version, the true artist must have worked fast and utilized the AI piece for “reference.”
Ato1004fd spent over 11 hours working on this piece on Twitch, while musaishh seemingly took the image early on, ran it through an AI system, and uploaded it long before ato1004fd’s artwork was completed.
Because they tried to take credit and undermine the artist, fans and fellow artists alike took notice and rallied behind ato1004fd. In the end, musaishh deactivated their account and ato1004fd shared their finished artwork of the Raiden Shogun from Genshin Impact.
Although everything worked out in the end, this situation led to many within the artist community rallying for change. The Twitter user who highlighted the details around this issue said they “want to see real change to protect artists.”
A different artist responded to the situation by stating AI artists aren’t true artists “and will never be unless they draw for real.”
One Twitter user compared what AI artists do to “tracing and editing” others’ work, explaining that “it’s just mashing up together pre-existed artworks to just to make something ‘new.'”
In response to the situation, many artists who regularly livestream or share work-in-progress versions of their art decided they will likely no longer do so, or will only do so with some sort of giant watermark that may help them prevent theft.
This instance of AI art theft certainly wasn’t the first, nor will it be the last. Days before this event occurred, one Twitter user shared the following tweet that perfectly encapsulates the issues artists are facing from those who claim to be “AI artists.”
This situation is one that likely occurs on a daily basis and is probably one of the few where the thief actually got caught. AI can certainly be a useful tool but is also ethically problematic due to its ability to help people undermine and blatantly steal artists’ hard work. What this means for the future of art is unknown, but artists undoubtedly will continue to seek some form of protection to help them keep their work safe.
