Steal Like a Machine

Some scenes from the group show opening at 188 Allen Street.

The theme is Anti AI. Scraping art and data off the internet without artist's consent and no option to opt-out is theft. It's not inspiration. It's a means to feed a data set that can then be sold for access. Let's draw a parallel: Artists don't want their images and work fed into a data set because they don't want their hand/likeness to potentially be generated. Prompt artists (those who use AI) are secretive about their prompts because they don't want people to be able to generate things that are similar to what they've generated. If you can't see the hypocrisy here, you're willfully ignorant or you lack critical thinking skills.

I believe there are many good uses for machine learning models when they don't infringe on the rights of others. If an artist or a brand could build a data silo of their catalog of work (that they own the rights to) I think it could be a very powerful tool. Or, if they consent to having their work be included in a data set.

Special thanks to:

Mike Banom for the photography

SacSix for curating the show