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Artist uses AI-generated art to win a contest, and Twitter isn’t happy
Jason Allen, president of Colorado-based tabletop gaming company Incarnate Games recently won first place in a digital art contest, but artists on Twitter aren’t happy about it. That’s because the artwork that won the first place award was actually created using AI (artificial intelligence).
According to a Vice report, the incident involved Allen winning the Colorado State Fair’s Digital Arts / Digitally-Manipulated Photography competition and bragging about his win on Discord, after which Allen received a lot of criticism. The piece was called “Théâtre D’opéra Spatial” and was created using AI Midjourney software based on Allen’s instructions.
A tweet by user OmniMorpho (@OmniMorpho) even calls the artwork an example of “watching the death of art right before our eyes.” While the win may seem unfair to many, it still qualifies in the Digitally Manipulated Photography section, making Allen’s win justified, at least for the judges.
We’re watching the death of artistry unfold right before our eyes — if creative jobs aren’t safe from machines, then even high-skilled jobs are in danger of becoming obsolete
What will we have then?— OmniMorpho (@OmniMorpho) August 31, 2022
Allen, meanwhile, reportedly responded to negative comments on the Midjourney Discord on Tuesday, noting that “people on Twitter who oppose AI-generated art are the first to throw a person under the bus by discrediting the human element.”
The creator insisted that his contribution was a key part of the final work that won the award, and also mentions that his work was submitted to the state competition as “Jason Allen via Midjourney”.
“I researched a special challenge that I will post later, created 100 images with it and after many weeks of tweaking and nurturing my genes I chose my best 3 and had them printed on canvas. after unleashing Gigapixel AI,” he wrote in a post before announcing the winners.
