Y’know, The More I Think About It, The More I Realize That The Knee-jerk “we Need Copyright Law To

y’know, the more i think about it, the more i realize that the knee-jerk “we need copyright law to protect The Artists from AI” reaction around AI illustration feels like the intellectual property equivalent of the “temporarily embarrassed millionaire” mentality

you see people supporting policies that serve against their economic interests out of the delusion that the american dream is real and they’re ever going to be wealthy enough to benefit from those policies

in the same vein, i feel like some artists talk as if stronger copyright law enforcement would benefit them in light of the advent of AI illustration, when it exists solely to protect the interests of massive rights-holding conglomerates who have the capital required to actively utilize it

in other words, you are not lars ulrich, the current infrastructure will not protect you, and stronger copyright enforcement would let warner bros. call a drone strike on you for selling Our Flag Means Death fanart on etsy long, long before it would stop AI models from adding your art to their massive pool of reference data