{"id":22294,"date":"2024-01-05T03:20:46","date_gmt":"2024-01-05T09:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=22294"},"modified":"2024-01-05T03:20:52","modified_gmt":"2024-01-05T09:20:52","slug":"ai-altered-a-keith-haring-painting-about-the-aids-crisis-and-for-some-ruined-its-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=22294","title":{"rendered":"AI altered a Keith Haring painting about the AIDS crisis \u2014 and, for some, ruined its meaning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Keith Haring\u2019s \u201cUnfinished Painting<\/a>\u201d is known as a powerful social commentary on the AIDS crisis<\/a>, which cut short the lives of many people in the gay community, including Haring himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But years later, using artificial intelligence, a social media user decided to \u201ccomplete\u201d the piece \u2014 prompting outrage online among artists who argue that using AI destroyed the piece\u2019s meaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Haring died in 1990 at age 31 from AIDS-related complications. The piece is on an almost entirely white canvas, except for the right corner, which features colorful figures in Haring\u2019s signature style. Streaks of paint also run down from the corner.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Artist Brooke Peachley shared a post of the painting on X in June, writing that for her it\u2019s an example of \u201cvisual art that never fails to destroy you.\u201d On Sunday, another X user who goes by Donnel gave it the AI treatment, and it went viral within days. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe story behind this painting is so sad!\u201d Donnel wrote<\/a> with a sad face emoji and an attached altered version of the piece, which fills the white space of the original artwork with similar purple and white figures. \u201cNow using AI we can complete what he couldn\u2019t finish!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Backlash was swift, with some online saying using AI to complete a late artist\u2019s work is unethical and others calling the post a strong argument against AI art. It has become the latest flashpoint<\/a> among artists who have raised concerns about the perils of creating images with AI using other people\u2019s original work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

AI programs have advanced to put powerful software tools in the hands of anyone with access to the internet. Generative AI, which allows programs to create text or images using prompts, has become widely accessible in the last year. Platforms like OpenAI\u2019s ChatGPT and Microsoft\u2019s Bing AI Chat have become popular for generating increasingly sophisticated images and texts with simple prompts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that a lot of people, including myself, turned on AI, on generative AI, because we realized how these models were being created,\u201d artist Megan Ruiz said in an interview. \u201cThey\u2019re being trained on our stolen work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ruiz called Donnel\u2019s rendition of Haring\u2019s work \u201cvile\u201d in a post on X. Ruiz and Peachley said the image elevated concerns they already had about issues surrounding art and AI, including consent, plagiarism and compensation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Others online echoed their concerns and outrage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is an argument against AI \u2018art,\u2019\u201d a person wrote on Reddit<\/a> in response to the post. \u201cTruly vile and disgusting, a disgrace to humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another wrote<\/a>: \u201cAi is not art and the fact that this was done shows how removed from reality some people are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some noted that the AI was unable<\/a> to replicate Haring\u2019s unique, comical cartoon style<\/a> and said its work was \u201cpoor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several people on X and Reddit also accused Donnel of being homophobic or \u201ctone deaf.\u201d Others called them out for posting \u201crage bait,\u201d content intentionally shared to get negative reactions for attention. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to an interview request sent through X, Donnel said the post was meant to be a joke. They declined to share their name for fear of their personal information\u2019s being leaked online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Keith Haring Foundation, which the artist established before his death, didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right now, we don\u2019t really have structures or frameworks for engaging with AI. Or engaging with generative AI in a way that I think fully respects artists and the agency of artists and their agency over their own creative work, whether living or dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TINA TALLON, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF AI AND THE ARTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On its w<\/a>ebsite<\/a>, the foundation says it \u201cowns the international copyright to artworks created by Keith Haring\u201d and \u201coversees the reproduction of Keith Haring artwork and protects its intellectual property against unauthorized use.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAny intended use of Keith Haring artwork must be cleared and authorized by the Keith Haring Foundation in advance of its use,\u201d according to the foundation website’s licensing guidelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The site goes on to say it’s “committed to continuing Keith Haring\u2019s desire to make his work accessible to a wide audience and to perpetuate the dissemination of his images in academic and popular culture through books and catalogs, editorial reproductions, products, and promotions. Revenues generated through licensing support the Foundation\u2019s grant making activities.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some experts suggest that Donnel most likely didn\u2019t do anything illegal in using AI on Haring\u2019s work. However, the post could have crossed ethical boundaries, \u201cbecause it\u2019s very disrespectful to not only anyone who was around during the AIDS epidemic, but particularly those who died from it or who lost friends and loved ones during it,\u201d said Tina Tallon, an assistant professor of AI and the arts at the University of Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social media algorithms often reward \u201crage bait,\u201d which sometimes spurs the use of AI to deface work by bad actors, Tallon said. Therefore, the responsibility of ethical AI usage falls on many parties, including users, AI companies and social media platforms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But education is also a major component of ethical AI use, Tallon said, because it can help people \u201cunderstand the consequences of what they do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight now, we don\u2019t really have structures or frameworks for engaging with AI,\u201d she said. \u201cOr engaging with generative AI in a way that I think fully respects artists and the agency of artists and their agency over their own creative work, whether living or dead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nbcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Keith Haring\u2019s \u201cUnfinished Painting\u201d is known as a powerful social commentary on the AIDS crisis, which cut short the lives of many people in the gay community, including Haring himself. But years later, using artificial intelligence, a social media user decided to \u201ccomplete\u201d the piece \u2014 prompting outrage online among artists who argue that using AI […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":22295,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5783],"tags":[25655,4149,1367,25654,23517],"class_list":["post-22294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sci-tech","tag-aids","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-crisis","tag-keith-harling","tag-painting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22294"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22296,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22294\/revisions\/22296"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}