Marist Undergraduate Philosophy Journal Vol VII 2024

Ethical Implications of AI-Generated Art

ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS OF AI- GENERATED ART Patrick Davis Marist College

Abstract Increasingly , we see the delegation of tasks fall into the metaphorical hands of automation. One cultural sphere in which this is rapidly occurring, perhaps outside the purview of the public, is art. An array of artificial intelligence programs can now generate images according to user inputs, raising significant ethical concerns about the practice, decried as a detriment to art and artists. In this paper, however, I shall outline why I believe the most prominent of these arguments cannot withstand detailed scrutiny.

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1. Introduction

he modern world looks more and more like a science fiction illustration. Cell phones, self-driving vehicles, drones, and virtual reality are all technologies of our time, and how past generations would have reacted to such magnificent technological achievements should be more than conceivable. Yet we consistently fail, it seems, to see the marvelous advances that have delivered us to this modern science-fiction world. Nevertheless, one technology that seems to have caught the public eye is artificial intelligence. Perhaps films such as The Terminator or 2001: A Space Odyssey have specifically pushed artificial intelligence into popular culture. Yet it remains a controversial subject, with concerns about its potential sentience, 1 its 1 Tamlyn Hunt, “Here’s Why AI May Be Extremely Dangerous--Whether It’s Conscious or Not,” Scientific American , May 25, 2023, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/heres-why-ai-may-be- extremely-dangerous-whether-its-conscious-or-not/.

Volume VII (2024) 2

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