SAI Blog

After one year, SAI has decided to discontinue the "AI Generated" seal. 

It been the least used seal since creatives using generative AI tend to use AI as a tool in combination with their own editing.  Some even suggested that coming up with a prompt was the human contribution, therefore resulting in a hybrid work.

We listened and as you can tell from our branding, we like to keep things black and white... so to make sure there is no confusion, the "AI Generated" seal will officially be retired November 1, 2024. 

The "AI Assisted" seal will now be the only one used to disclose the use of AI in creative work.  Updates to content will soon reflect this change, as well as the Membership Tools for both free Basic and Pro memberships.  Please contact us if you have any further questions about using your SAI Seals.

At the grocery store, we often look to the various labels to determine whether or not to purchase a certain food.  The certifications from 3rd parties provide confidence that a food item is in fact what the marketing on the labels says.

Do you look for:  USDA Organic, Non-GMO Project Certified, Certified Gluten-Free, or OK Kosher Certified?

In the same way, SAI's "Human Created" and "AI Assisted" labels (or seals) let the buyer know what is in the product / creative work they are buying.  It is the creator's responsibility to be transparent as this allows the consumer to make the choice.

The reason certification is so critical is outlined in the responsibilities within our Code of ethics:

Responsibility to the Profession: Every SAI Certified Member has an influence on the perception of their given industry. Reputation is a priceless asset that must be protected through a brand that values integrity. By aligning with other artists and creatives, SAI Certified Members set the standard for the transparent use of AI within their industry.

Responsibility to the Public: SAI Certified Members have an obligation to collectors, viewers, readers, listeners and all consumers of creative works, as well as each other, to disclose their use or non-use of AI in their work so informed decisions about purchasing, watching, using, or other ways of engaging with the work can be made. As the creator of such work, it is the member’s responsibility to uphold these core values and aim to promote a positive societal impact with their work.

Responsibility to Self: SAI Certified Members should remain true to themselves, their self-expression, and what they value most. This is shown through their creative work and is a reflection of the humanness or “soul” of the Member. By disclosing the use of AI in their work, they can separate their true selves from technological creations.

Third party certification such as SAI sets the standard consumers can trust when making a choice about engaging with or purchasing creative work. 

 

The Society for Artistic Integrity states that training methods for generative AI systems – that scrape the internet, require compliance in Terms of Service without opt-out or compensation, or otherwise steal from or manipulate a creative human author/owner – are unethical. While the intended outcome of the AI technology may claim to enhance society, the methods used to train the datasets are a violation of collective trust and are harmful to the creator/author/owner of the original works.

Recognizing that the lack of consent is theft, we established SAI to allow the creator utilizing the benefits of this new generative AI technology to disclose their use or non use by designating their work with personalized SAI Seals. This transparency builds trust with their customer/audience and lets the consumer choose whether or not to engage with the work (regardless of whether that decision is based on unethical system training or other reasons).

While regulation on generative AI system training may be forthcoming, our view is that through the ethical use and disclosure, society has the ability right now to shape what is an acceptable use of AI through consumer attention and spending.

Example Impact of Generative AI on a Painter:

What was Generative AI trained on?

Content from creators was used to train generative AI through the collection of data into large structured datasets. The data was acquired by ‘scraping’ the internet taking text, numbers, images, and coding with it. Artists’ copyrighted works, website content, articles, books, songs, audio, and more were swept up into the training. Permission was not granted, agreements were not made, no royalties were paid… no licensing, no credit, no asking, no ethical considerations – creators’ work was stolen.

What about copyright?

• Even if a work has not been officially published or registered, a copyright still exists the moment a work is created.
• A registered copyright establishes a public record and provides additional legal protections to the creator of the work.
• What can be copyrighted: novels, poems, articles, blogs, songs, paintings, illustrations, photographs, illustrations, marketing materials, movies, plays, computer software, and much more.
• A “style” cannot be copyrighted. Nor can ideas, facts, methods or concepts.

What’s the problem with Generative AI as it relates to creativity?

• The tech was trained by unauthorized scraping of content / not getting permission
• AI software charges a fee for use, but uses stolen content to generate
• Direct, targeted use of style could harm original creator (confusion, loss of income)
• Output lacks the soulfulness of human creation
• It could eliminate creative jobs
• Lacks accuracy in images and facts / "hallucinates"
• The over reliance on AI could oversaturate content with repetitive imagery and “AI look”
• Overall devaluation of art
• Additional energy needed for computing power

But Generative AI has its benefits for creatives too, right?

• Brainstorming, forming ideas, helping with workflows, inspiration
• Time efficiency, productivity tools, automation
• Accessibility and democratizing creativity
• Analyze large datasets to identify trends and patterns
• Recreate and reimagine historical art styles not readily available
• Enhance visual effects / animation that would normal be time consuming

What’s next?

There is no going backwards on generative AI system training as we can’t undo the scraping, but future regulations may establish more ethical guidelines. With continued education about AI and disclosure of its use, the creator and the consumer can make their own choice about whether to engage with AI.

Moving forward, creators can choose to participate in the use of generative AI with the knowledge about how it was trained. SAI certification lifts the veil on the methods of artwork creation and the transparency established with the SAI Seals allows the consumer to also make a choice.

The Society for Artistic Integrity evolved from a personal experience I had using Generative Artificial Intelligence in a creative project.  I am the founder of SAI, but I also own two other art businesses.  I’m an oil painter with a focus on equine art and pet portraits at ArtByKimball.com and I’m also the founder and instructor at Corporate to Canvas, where I lead company team building events through painting activities.  This business is similar to a “Paint and Sip” but with a professional focus on the team’s core values and/or a visual interpretation of their products and services.  

In February of 2023, I was hired for an event where the team would create a collaborative painting that represented their brand.  There were 35 individual canvases that were puzzle pieces of the larger image.  They requested multiple themes be incorporated into the painting.  These included:  the San Diego skyline, optometry, their logo, brand colors and a vibrant sky/sunset.  

After some sketching and moving around images in Canva, I decided to use AI for some ideas.  It was brand new to me and the only prompt I knew was /imagine.  I entered a variation of words based on the themes provided to me, and after a few tries, I received a creative concept I hadn’t envisioned yet.  For the optometry part, I had thought of the sun as an eye, but this came back with the eye being something the viewer of the painting was looking out of.  This shifted my plan and I went back to Canva, manipulated the image I had made, added portions of photos, edited colors, added the logo to the reflection in the water, and was able to fit all of the themes into the one painting!  The following is the digital version / reference image for the collaborative painting activity (logo was removed).

The client was thrilled with the design, but I had a feeling of “ickiness” because it wasn’t all entirely my idea — I used AI to inform my design. While I didn’t use entirely AI generated art, it was definitely AI assisted, especially since the visual it presented was something that had not crossed my mind at that point.

This brought up a few questions:

• How should an artist disclose their use of AI?
• If something isn’t entirely AI, how is that communicated?
• AI isn’t going away, how do we adapt the creative industries to include AI?

Leading up to my transition to an art career in 2018, I had numerous jobs in a variety of fields.  One thing that stood out to me when trying to answer these questions was my experience becoming a REALTOR when I was a real estate agent in the Boston area.  REALTORS are required to commit to a strict Code of Ethics as it related to their buyer and seller transactions, and there was a certain prestige in having a REALTOR designation from the National Association of Realtors (instead of simply having a state license).  At this point I was on to something — an association that is committed to artistic integrity! 

When I told my attorney about it, she likened it to the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.  Then I got started, and wow were there a lot of iterations.  Let’s just say I own a few too many domain names for the next year that will never be used. 

Throughout the development of SAI, a standard was created for artists to use for designating their work appropriately as it relates to their use (or non-use) of AI.  This standard can be applied to all creative industries, not just visual arts.  

It’s amazing to think that one client project helped to fuel the idea for a brand new business.  I’m grateful to support other artists and creatives as we move forward in a world with AI. 

This blog post is SAI Certified as Human Created by Kimball Willson.  No Artificial Intelligence was used to write this post.