Generative AI’s Impact on the Art World Has Many Angles

Generative AI posed threats to artists, helped museums and cultural organizations build personalized learning experiences, disrupted the business of artwork appraisals and valuations, and pushed tech leaders towards authentication standards to combat mis- and disinformation powered by AI-generated images. In short, the topic kept making headlines and noise in the art space in August. Learn more about the most interesting stories and trends in my new Art + Tech Dispatch edition.?

Generative AI, "Trust Issues", and The C2PA's Authentication Standard?

As the US presidential election approaches, the internet has been filled with manipulated images. To combat misinformation, tech giants like 微软 , Adobe , OpenAI , 谷歌 , and others have thrown their support behind the C2PA authentication standard, which aims to embed metadata into digital content to verify its authenticity.??

Despite their support, implementation has been slow. The problem lies in interoperability: different cameras, software, and platforms don't universally support or display this metadata, limiting its effectiveness in identifying manipulated images.??

The challenge is not just technical but also involves presenting verification information in a way that is understandable and trustworthy for users. And even if widespread adoption is achieved, overcoming misinformation and denialism among the public remains a critical hurdle, as some people may continue to believe what they want, regardless of evidence.??

While "no system is perfect" as The Verge writer Jessica Weatherbed puts it in his article, the C2PA standard offers a robust option, and to accelerate its adoption, those driving this initiative are encouraging other tech leaders to join them to combat misinformation together.??

Learn more?

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Artists Against AI Image Generators??

Last month, US artists defending a lawsuit over the uncompensated and unauthorized use of billions of images that art generators downloaded from the internet to train their AI systems, claimed a big win in their fight.???

A federal judge has allowed key copyright and trademark claims to proceed, marking a win for the artists — and broader implications for the future of AI in creative industries. This win also means companies who utilize AI-powered models like Stable Diffusion and LAION-like datasets that scrape artists' works for AI training without permission "could now be liable for copyright infringement violations, amongst other violations."???

Learn more about this case??

AI Dangers for Japanese Artists?

Japan, known for manga, anime, and other iconic artistic contributions, is now facing a challenge as AI technologies increasingly mimic these art forms, potentially undermining the livelihoods of human artists.???

An update in 2018 to Japan's intellectual property law has been interpreted as allowing the widespread use of copyrighted materials to train AI tools without permission, a move seen as catering to the tech industry at the expense of creators. A major concern that goes beyond the use of unauthorized artworks is that AI-generated art is often soulless — redundant versions of human creations, stripped of the elements that made us feel something in the first place.???

Learn more?

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Ask Mona, Generative AI in the Museum Space?

Now on to the brighter side of Generative AI. A great example of applying this technology in museums is Ask Mona , an AI-powered platform that offers personalized learning experiences for museums, heritage sites and cultural organizations such as the Louvre, Colosseum, Orsay, the complex that is home to the French Public Information Library, as well as Musee National d'Art Moderne, the largest museum for modern art in Europe.?

The emergence of generative AI, propelled to the forefront by OpenAI's ChatGPT in 2023, has hastened its expansion. It is a programme that comes up with humanlike responses to prompts in seconds, based on information publicly available on the internet.?

After expanding into Italy, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Netherlands, Canada and the US, Ask Mona plans to expand into the Middle East market next. The company intends to “democratise access to knowledge” and create individual learning experiences for museumgoers in the region, as it did in Europe.?

Learn more??

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Transforming Artwork Appraisals with AI?

The next art market shift led by AI may be artwork appraisals, as companies leveraging AI technology enter the market to offer more accurate, data-driven appraisals and valuations.?

Some of the most prominent examples of such companies are Appraisal Bureau , Artory , and ARTDAI .?

How are they using AI for appraisals??

Appraisal Bureau uses a proprietary software platform, integrated with AI, which functions as a "co-pilot," enhancing inventory management with continuous, dynamic evaluations.???

Artory records artwork and provenance information on the blockchain and collaborates with the Winston Art Group , which uses decades of private sales data to fine-tune the appraisal and valuation process.???

ARTDAI merges human expertise with the efficiency of technology. On the technology side, its model is set up to ingest vast amounts of raw, often chaotic market data from various sources, and then apply proprietary algorithms to organize and analyze it.??

Predictably, the major auction houses remain cautious about integrating this new technology. However, in some areas, such as provenance tracking, market forecasting, and fraud detection, the adoption of AI is gradually being extended.?

Read more?

Cybersecurity Audit Checklist for Art Platforms?

Cybersecurity has become a growing concern for art organizations and businesses, with multiple hacking scandals reported since the start of this year.??

One of the most recent cases happened in August when The Grand Palais and other museums in its network, used as venues for the Olympic Games in Paris, became the latest target of a new ransomware attack.??

It's another reminder that as cyberattacks become more frequent and sophisticated, museums, auction houses, art galleries, and art marketplaces need to take proactive measures to ensure their data and assets are protected and their business operations are not disrupted.??

The first logical step towards better data protection is performing regular cybersecurity audits. Together with DataArt tech experts, I prepared a checklist for cybersecurity self-audits which art collection management systems and online art marketplaces can perform by themselves and hence detect and eliminate vulnerabilities early on.?

Download the checklist?

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At DataArt - Media & Entertainment , we are committed to helping our clients find innovative ways to solve their business problems and challenges with the help of AI, and we’ve already completed 40+ generative AI POC projects in just the last six months. If you want to hear more about our AI expertise and capabilities and how we can help, please DM me.?