Three Artists Sue AI Image Generators Over Unlicensed Training Data
A class-action lawsuit targets Stability AI, Midjourney, and DeviantArt for using artists' work without consent to train image generators. The plaintiffs argue this technology threatens to destroy their careers by allowing anyone to replicate their unique styles.
Three artists file a class-action lawsuit against Stability AI, Midjourney, and DeviantArt, claiming these companies use their copyrighted artwork without permission to train AI image generators. Kelly McKernan, Sarah Andersen, and Karla Ortiz discover their work feeds into systems like Stable Diffusion, which powers popular apps that produce professional-quality images from text prompts.
The plaintiffs argue that anyone can now replicate their distinct artistic styles simply by typing their names into the AI software. McKernan states that this technology effectively destroys an entire career path for independent artists, as they receive no consent requests and no compensation for the use of their original creations.
The legal team behind this lawsuit currently represents engineers in a similar case against Microsoft, GitHub, and OpenAI over unauthorized code training. This emerging legal battle highlights the growing tension between human creators and artificial intelligence companies that scrape online content to build their automated tools.