Technology
Artist says AI is turning Indigenous Australian art into unauthenticated copies
The Guardian reports that Pitjantjatjara artist Sally Scales says AI is taking First Nations art and producing unauthenticated copies.
The short version
- Pitjantjatjara artist Sally Scales says AI is taking First Nations art and producing unauthenticated copies, which she calls theft.[The Guardian]
- Searches of Temu, Shein and Amazon reportedly show many Aboriginal-style works and items, mostly without artist attribution.[The Guardian]
- AI has reportedly been trained without compensation on works by Kylie Minogue and Nick Cave, and the reporting comes from a single outlet.[The Guardian]
Key facts
- Sally Scales, a Pitjantjatjara artist and chair of the National Gallery of Australia's First Nations advisory group, said AI is taking First Nations art and turning it into unauthenticated copies.[The Guardian]
- Scales said AI undermines the agency and authenticity of First Nations artists and represents a theft of cultural knowledge.[The Guardian]
- Searches on Temu, Shein and Amazon found works described as Aboriginal paintings and items with Aboriginal-style designs, mostly without artist attribution.[The Guardian]
- Prof Kathy Bowrey, an intellectual property specialist at UNSW Law, said one in five creators already had copyright infringement problems before AI.[The Guardian]
- AI has reportedly been trained without compensation on the works of well-known Australian artists, including Kylie Minogue and Nick Cave.[The Guardian]
- According to the outlet, lawyer Terri Janke has documented AI scraping Indigenous art centre websites, removing artists' names and altering their work.[The Guardian]
What remains uncertain
- The number of uncredited Aboriginal-style listings is not quantified, and the outlet gives no count or search method for its description of numerous listings.[The Guardian]
- Claims that AI was trained on works by Kylie Minogue and Nick Cave are reported without independent confirmation of the training data.[The Guardian]
- Scales's assertions of theft and harm are her own views, and the story relies on a single outlet without independent verification.[The Guardian]
Sources
Outlet counts describe coverage, not independent confirmation. Reports may share a wire service or original source.