Is AI art a kind of “disguised plagiarism”?

Is AI Art Disguised Plagiarism?

The emergence of AI-generated art has sparked intense debate in artistic and legal circles. At the heart of this controversy lies a provocative question: Is AI art disguised plagiarism? While the technology behind AI art generators is undeniably impressive, critics question the ethical and legal foundations of how these systems are trained and how their outputs are used. This article explores both sides of the debate to assess whether AI art should be considered a form of creative expression or an act of unauthorized imitation.

The Rationale Behind the “Disguised Plagiarism” Argument

1. Training Data

AI image generators are trained on vast datasets composed of millions of images scraped from the Internet, including countless works by human artists, many of which are copyrighted. Critics argue that this process amounts to digital appropriation, where the machine “learns” from art it has no right to use. This includes learning general styles or techniques and potentially absorbing distinctive visual elements and motifs.

2. Lack of Originality

Because AI models are trained entirely on preexisting content, skeptics argue that the…