Should Christie's be auctioning off AI-generated art?
Artist and illustrator Reid Southen explains why he and other artists wrote an open letter against the event
The popular fine art auction company Christie's is receiving backlash for hosting an all-AI art auction.
On now until March 5, the Augmented Intelligence auction is purportedly the first AI-dedicated sale to take place at a major auction house. Christie's describes it as "a groundbreaking auction highlighting the breadth and quality of AI Art."
However, thousands of artists have signed an open letter calling for the auction to be cancelled. The letter cites concerns that many of the artworks up for sale were "created using AI models that are known to be trained on copyrighted work without a license," and how supporting these models "further incentivizes AI companies' mass theft of human artists' work."
Today on Commotion, guest host Rad Simonpillai speaks with artist and illustrator Reid Southen to discuss a petition he started with other artists demanding Christie's rethink their AI-art strategies, and the issues he has with the event itself
You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.
Interview with Reid Southen produced by Ty Callender.