An A.I.-Generated Image Won An Art Prize Artists Aren’t Happy.

Allen was obsessed with creating images, and marveling at their realisticity of them. Midjourney was able to make it no matter what he wrote.

He said, “I couldn’t believe what was happening.” “I felt it was demonically instigated — like an otherworldly force was involved,” he said.

Finally, Allen had the idea to submit one of his Midjourney creations at the Colorado State Fair.

The Colorado State Fair had a division for digital art/digitally modified photography. He had the canvas printed by a local shop and sent it to the judges.

He said that the fair was approaching and I thought, “How wonderful would it be for people to see how amazing this art is?”

A few weeks later, as he walked the fairground in Pueblo he saw a blue ribbon next to his piece. Along with a $300 prize, he had won the division.

He said, “I couldn’t believe it.” “I felt like this was exactly what I set out for.”

(Mr. Allen refused to reveal the exact prompt he submitted to Midjourney for “Theatre D’opera Spatial” but he did say that the French translation of “Space Opera Theater”, provided some clues.

Following his win, Allen uploaded a photo of the prize work to the Midjourney Discord Chat. It was then posted to Twitter where it provoked a furious backlash.

One Twitter user said, “We’re seeing the death of art unfold right before our eyes.”

Another wrote, “This is so gross.” “I can see where A.I. is. Art can be useful, but is it claiming that you are an artist by creating one? No.

Some artists supported Mr. Allen by arguing that A.I. was a good idea. To create a piece, was the same as using Photoshop or any other digital image manipulation tool. However, human creativity is still needed to find the right prompts to produce an award-winning piece.

Mr. Allen disclosed Midjourney’s involvement in his submission.

Olga Robak is a spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Agriculture. The category’s rules allow any “artistic process that uses digital technology as part of its creative or presentation process.” However, the two category judges didn’t know Midjourney was A.I. She said that the program was not disclosed by Midjourney, but she and her colleagues later stated that they would have given Mr. Allen top prize regardless.

It is not uncommon for controversy to arise over new technologies in art-making. Many artists reacted negatively to the invention of the digital camera. They saw it as an insult to human artistic ability. Purists dismissed digital editing tools and computer-assisted design programs in the 20th century as too dependent on the skills of human collaborators.

The new A.I. is different. Some critics believe that the new breed of A.I. tools is more than just capable of creating beautiful works of art with minimal effort. It’s their way of working. Apps such as DALL-E 2 or Midjourney are created by scraping millions upon millions of images on the internet. Then algorithms are taught to recognize patterns in these images and create new images in the same style. Artists who upload works to the internet could be helping their algorithmic rivals unwittingly.

“What makes this AI special is that it’s explicitly trained upon current working artists,” tweeted RJ Palmer, a digital artist. “This thing is actively anti-artist and wants our jobs.”

A.I.-generated artwork is not for everyone. Even those who love it have questions about its production. Andy Baio is a technologist, writer, and editor. He wrote about DALL-E 2, the most popular A.I. Image generators are “borderline magical in the abilities they can conjure, but it raises so many ethical issues that it’s difficult to keep track.

Blue-ribbon winner Mr. Allen said that he sympathizes with artists who are afraid of A.I. They would be out of work, Allen said. He said that their anger should not be directed at people who use DALLE 2 or Midjourney for art making but at companies that choose to replace human artists with A.I. tools.

He said, “It shouldn’t be an indictment on the technology itself.” “The technology is not the ethics. It’s in people.

He also encouraged artists to overcome their objections towards A.I. even if it was only to coping strategies.

Allen stated, “This isn’t going to end.” “Art is dead, dude. It’s over. A.I. won. Humans lost.”