Protecting Art From AI: How A New Tool Shields Artists' Original Works
A team at the University of Chicago says they've found a new way to protect art from AI
Generative artificial intelligence tools can create art from scratch in a matter of minutes. Naturally, this poses a threat to artists who spend hours creating original artworks and illustrations.
A team at the University of Chicago says they've found a new way to protect art from AI. Their new programme called Glaze protects original works by artists by cloaking them and feeding incorrect data to AI models.
Google DeepMind
Fooling AI to protect artists
Images and artworks available on the internet are usually used to train AI models, often without the permission of artists. The more images are fed to AI, the smarter these programmes become. Essentially, if an artist's work is available online, there's a high chance that it has been used to train AI models.
Enter Glaze! Ben Zhao and his team at the University of Chicago have created a freeware programme that tweaks the original artworks in a way that tricks AI models through minimal changes.
The programme has been download 893,000 times since it was launched in March and essentially re-renders an image with visual noise using the artist's computer, Business Insider reported.
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Zhao told BI that while images can still be fed to AI learning models, the data picked up from it would be inaccurate, essentially offering a glimmer of hope to artists.
Glaze will only feed incorrect data to the AI programme, while retaining its original features for human eyes. The software lets artists decide the intensity of cloaking as well as the render duration that could take up to 60 minutes.
Based on what the user chooses, the differences can be pronounced or minimal. Even though to us the images will look similar, the AI model will perceive the image in a completely different light.
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The problem with AI tools that can generate images based on an individual artist's style is that these images may be prompted to carry controversial themes, adding to the woes of the artists in an already cut-throat industry.
What do you think about this tool? Let us know in the comments below. For more in the world of technology and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com.
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