- AI companies have publicly stated their goal of revolutionizing the creative industries.
- But they barely hide their contempt for the artists they're trying to displace.
- The Columbia professor told BI that the conflict stems from the fact that both groups are “competing for the same revenue.”
AI companies may be working hard to disrupt the creative industries, but some are making no secret of their disdain for the artists their products may harm.
Last month, OpenAI CTO Mira Murati made headlines when she appeared to ignore the massive impact AI will have on the creative job market.
“Creative jobs may disappear, but maybe those jobs shouldn't have existed in the first place,” Murati said at an event at his alma mater, Dartmouth College, on June 8. “If the content that's being produced is not of high quality, then they're gone.”
Indeed, Murati is not the only tech executive to have drawn criticism from creators recently.
Artists and designers were outraged. Adobe's updated terms of use are Train with creator content AI model. Adobe in June Uploaded Blog Post Notify users The AI models were not trained on customer content.
Olivier Toubia, a marketing professor at Columbia University, told BI that tech executives' arrogance may stem from insensitivity rather than carelessness.
“This may simply be insensitivity or snobbism,” Toubia said. “Maybe some tech executives have less respect for creative work that relies on 'soft' skills because we live in a world where your worth is primarily determined by your technical skills.”
But Toubia says the friction we're seeing now between AI companies and artists is definitely more than a culture clash: In fact, the two groups could be locked in an existential struggle as they compete for the same audience.
“Unless AI increases the amount of creative and non-creative content we consume, the pie seems pretty fixed and therefore we're in a zero-sum game,” Toubia said.
“Given this, money being paid to tech companies for the production of creative content will likely come at the expense of more traditional creative producers,” he continued. “AI companies and creative people are competing for the same revenue.”
Tech companies are not slowing down in their efforts to grab a bigger share of the creative world.
Video giant YouTube has entered into licensing negotiations with major record companies such as Sony and Universal to obtain training material for its AI music generator.
Toubia told BI that these developments could have complicated consequences for artists hoping to make a living from their work.
“On the positive side, if you're a creator with a stable job, AI could potentially enable you to be a lot more productive and create more content,” Toubia said, “but for creators looking for work, there may not be as many job openings.”
“I think AI companies want to make money,” the marketing professor said, “but I'm not sure they care about the creative industries or are willing to take steps to protect them.”
A representative for Murati at OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider outside of normal working hours.
