Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools like Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and Adobe’s Firefly require training on enormous data sets to be effective. For these AI developers, there is perhaps no easier and more accessible data set than the entirety of the internet.

Artists looking to share and showcase their work typically use the web and social media but never intended their creations to be fodder for AI machines. Some artists are concerned that others will use AI to generate artwork in their signature style that could mislead the public into thinking the original artist made it. Further, many feel that AI firms using their work to train products without permission or compensation is unfair.

The artists are fighting against the use of their work by AI in several ways. On the legal front, artists have recently been dealt a blow when a US district judge dismissed a class action lawsuit brought by artists Sarah Anderson, Kelly McKernan, and Karla Ortiz, saying, in part, that determining copyright infringement is “not plausible” at the moment.