Is A.I. Ruining Social Media for Artists?

If you've browsed fanart on Instagram or other social media platforms, it's almost impossible that you haven't come across Artbreeder images. These perfectly crafted, photo-realistic portraits are often made to resemble famous characters from animated films and television programs. Portraits like these also often resemble real artwork, made by real people, but they are not. If you see an image with the caption "made using Artbreeder" then you should know that the image you're seeing was generated by a complex A.I. program designed to produce artificial artwork. Artbreeder is a GAN Breeding program that allows any user to create unique pieces of art by having the A.I's system combine other images already in its database. These pieces of art are quite literally bred, with the traits and qualities of other images being endlessly recombined and changed to create them.

So, what's the problem? Most people who post these images do so with the proper disclosures, and rarely claim that the images were their own creations. Artbreeder creators do not claim to take up the same space as actual fan artists. Why would this create problems for real artists on social media? The answer is algorithms, the internal processes by which social media platforms "decide" which posts to push to their millions of users. Appealing to the algorithm is essential to growing an audience on any social media platform. Accounts that regularly or exclusively post Artbreeder content are able to do so far more regularly and frequently than real artists. This would be irrelevant if Artbreeder content was not treated the same as other forms of fanart, but not only is it, it often receives equal praise and attention.

I know personally that this phenomenon is occurring because I am an Artbreeder "creator" although I never set out to be one. I began posting my Artbreeder images to an Instagram account several months ago, looking to spread the word about this fascinating program. It took very little time for my account to explode, now with nearly 20,000 followers. Am I grateful? Absolutely, I love the people who follow me and I love sharing my creations from Artbreeder. It's made me more proficient with tools like Photoshop and Procreate to improve my Artbreeders. My platform also allows me to meet people from all over the world and connect with them, which has been truly incredible. That being said I also feel guilty. I am now part of the problem facing real, highly talented artists that I see on the platform every day. These artists spend countless hours on their work only to have a few people actually see it. I see my little sister, who has been drawing for years trying to get her account of the ground to little avail, while I gain new followers every day.

I'm left with a lot of lingering questions, and a lot of mixed feelings regarding my social media hobby. However, I do believe that Artbreeder creators can take steps to fix this issue, and bring awareness to the real artists that we all love. Artbreeder isn't going away any time soon, and if these accounts are going to continue then we need to continually give recognition to artists, whether this is through collaborations, shout-outs or simply tagging them in posts. We need to use our platform to support and lift up smaller creators who deserve more attention for their hard work and dedication. Artbreeder is fun, and the technology behind it is absolutely fascinating, but the threat it's beginning to pose to real artists is a serious issue and must be addressed if both mediums (traditional art and A.I. created art are going to coexist in internet spaces.