Found out that AI art datasets include like 2% of all artists alive today

Was reading through a breakdown of the LAION dataset that a lot of these image generators train on. Someone did the math and said it only covers about 2% of working artists globally. That blew my mind because the arguments always sound like it stole from everyone, but actually most artists aren't even in the data. Makes me wonder if the debate shifts once people realize how narrow the training pool really is. Has anyone else seen different numbers on this?

3 comments

3 Comments

leo_black7615d ago

Hang on, does that 2% include _all_ artists, or just professional fine artists? I'd be curious if they counted commercial illustrators, concept artists for games, and freelance designers too, because those are the folks getting hit hardest by this stuff right now. The numbers could look real different depending on who they decided to count.

gavin36515d ago

Thats a really good point, and it kinda gets at the heart of why these studies can be misleading. Like, if they're just counting the old school gallery painters who sell a canvas every few months, the 2% figure might actually be generous for the rest of us. But if they lumped in the guys doing character sheets for mobile games or the folks cranking out logos on Fiverr, that number could easily be way higher. So which specific group did they even survey? Because the illustrator who lost their regular comic gig to an AI tool is a totally different situation than a fine artist who's still selling paintings at the local craft fair.

harper91415d ago

Yeah, that "professional fine artists" part is a huge qualifier. They probably left out all the commercial and freelance people who make up like 80% of the working artist population, so the 2% number feels meaningless if you ask me.