ArtStation It is considered the most popular platform for artists from all over the world to upload their works and display their portfolio. We could consider it the LinkedIn of 2D and 3D artistssince in this one they are published Work offers and at the same time it works as a kind of social network with friends, messages, likes and comments. Taking into account the importance of this platform for artists, they have seen the need to carry out a Protest ArtStation for allowing AI-generated images. Rightly so, since many artists they make a living from their art or try to get a job so that later an AI prompt achieves an impressive result with little effort.
Today, any self-respecting artist knows ArtStation, the most popular website where you can record how much effort you have put into your latest artwork. this platform is taken seriouslysince many of the companies looking to hire artists they come to ArtStation to post their job openings and see if they qualify. This focuses mainly on the world of video games and in it we can see the profiles of some of the best 2D and 3D artists in the world. In this context, protests arise among the artists who use it worldwide, since all the seriousness that it tries to convey has vanished. And it is that, it does not have no policy against AI and allows you to upload computer-generated images without problems.
Artists protest and say NO to AI images on ArtStation
Seeing how in such a short time, AI is capable of generating art at a professional level leaves us all stunned. We can use midjourney, stable diffusion either DALL E 2 as examples of AI that are capable of such a feat. All this is great yes, as long as we limit it to social networks like Instagram or communities that only allow AI art. And it is that, by uploading these images generated by AI as part of the professional portfolioThat is when the problems arise. This has happened at ArtStation, where millions of artists around the world dedicate weeks or months of time and effort to complete your works and show them to people and companies in your portfolio.
Well, now there is an AI that is capable of performing a best job in a matter of minutes And it is also completely allowed. There is no icon indicating that this image has been generated by AI and unless the author himself says so, the vast majority of times it is not possible to guess. This has caused a global outcry among artists on ArtStation, who have seen how the platform is filled with this type of AI imagery and they get the most visits. This is because appear in the header from the “Explore” section, where most interactions occur.
Protests reach Epic Games, the owners of ArtStation
Seeing AI art being featured on the main page of Artstation saddens me. I love playing with MJ as much as anyone else, but putting something that was generated using a prompt alongside artwork that took hundreds of hours and years of experience to make is beyond disrespectful. pic.twitter.com/4p2MLDbADD
—Dan Eder (@3DanEder) December 9, 2022
All of this happens because ArtStation doesn’t really do anything to AI generated art, there are no protections or policies against it. Being aware of this, in the last 24 hours a huge number of artists have protested spamming their portfolios with the NO to images by AI. The creator of this kind of logo for the proposal has been Alexander Nanitchkov, who has already shown his opposition by uploading several works with this superimposed image to his portfolio. Since ArtStation doesn’t do anything, at least artists are able to put a label and reveal.
In fact, we have senior artists like dan ederwho currently works for MultiVersus Y Final Fantasy IX: Memory Project, showing their complaints about this lack of respect towards the workers of the industry. As he says, it is not the fault of the AI images, because we all like to experiment with them and see the results, it is the fact that there is no way to differentiate them and they are published on a professional site. After an intense day, the protests have finally reached Epic Gamescompany that bought ArtStation in 2021.
In this situation, Epic confirms that ArtStation’s guidelines do not prohibit the use of AI, but also affirms that the platform was created to showcase the originality and hard work of artists. Thus, encourage users to be transparent in the creation process Of his works. Finally, they admit that they are in the process of give users more control over how their work is tagged and will give more details in the near future.
