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infogenic

infogenic March 20, 2025, 9:22 p.m.

Who actually owns AI art? Just won a contest & now facing nasty backlash

Ok so I'm freaking out a bit. Last month I entered this AI art contest with a piece I spent FOREVER perfecting. Got the news yesterday I won 2nd place (yay!) but now my instagram is filling up with hate comments saying I'm a "fraud" and "thief" because I don't actually own the image??

The whole thing blew up when the contest posted they're using winners in their promotional materials. Some angry artists are saying the contest organizers are stealing from REAL artists by promoting AI work, while others say I don't have rights to give permission anyway since I "just typed words" and didn't create anything.

Honestly feeling pretty gutted. I spent days tweaking that prompt, running hundreds of generations, doing careful img2img edits to get exactly what I wanted. It wasn't just typing "beautiful sunset" and clicking generate lol. The final piece is EXACTLY what I envisioned when I started.

So now I'm super confused... If I make something with AI tools, who tf actually owns it? Me? Midjourney? No one? Can I sell prints? Can the contest use it in their magazine? Can some random person just take it and do whatever?

This matters because I've got potential clients interested in commissioning similar work but don't want to promise something I can't legally deliver. Any ACTUAL info (not just opinions) would be super helpful rn.

MQRobert

MQRobert March 21, 2025, 1:26 a.m.

imagine caring about "owning" ai art 🤣🤣🤣 traditional artists malding while i make bank selling stuff i made in 5 mins. copyright is dead, cry harder. ur either adapting or ur being replaced, simple as that. keep typing those angry comments while i pay my rent with prompt engineering lmaooo

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rolson

rolson March 21, 2025, 10:12 p.m.

Everyone conveniently forgetting that photography wasn't considered "real art" either lmaoooo. Same garbage arguments recycled for new tech. "you just pushed a button!" yeah and photographers just push buttons too. Give it 10 years and we'll laugh about this whole debate

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Altair23

Altair23 March 22, 2025, 6:07 p.m.

Sorry but you're not an artist. Pressing buttons while a machine trained on ACTUAL artists' stolen work does everything isn't creating art. It's theft with extra steps

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cibis

cibis March 22, 2025, 11:33 p.m.

ppl said the exact same thing about digital artists using photoshop filters 15 years ago…now they're the ones crying about AI. the circle of gatekeeping continues 🔄

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bad66266

bad66266 March 23, 2025, 1:48 p.m.

Check ur TOS!!! Stability/midjourney/dalle all have different rules. Midjourney commercial license literally costs $600/yr while stability lets you own everything. Read the fine print before selling anything ffs

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Yna25

Yna25 March 24, 2025, 9:56 p.m.

idk who needs to hear this but copyright law was invented for a world that no longer exists. We're like people arguing over horse-and-buggy right-of-way rules while surrounded by flying cars. Whole system needs complete reboot

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351962Z

351962Z March 25, 2025, 12:29 a.m.

tfw ppl who pirate every movie/song/game suddenly become copyright experts when AI art enters the chat 💀💀💀

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mos13

mos13 March 27, 2025, 5 p.m.

Imagine thinking you "own" something that can be recreated by anyone typing the same prompt lmaooo. Try typing ur exact prompt again - guarantee you'll get a different result. How u gonna copyright something u can't even reproduce??

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rela

rela March 28, 2025, 7:11 p.m.

This whole debate is capitalism brainrot. "who OWNS this" "who can PROFIT from this" meanwhile indigenous cultures shared stories and art for thousands of years without obsessing over who could sell what

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smail

smail March 30, 2025, 11:18 a.m.

ah yes because indigenous artists famously loved having their work stolen and commercialized by others. what a garbage take. EVERY artist deserves control over their work regardless of economic system

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Alex710

Alex710 April 1, 2025, 4:02 p.m.

Been selling ai-assisted art via etsy for 9 months ($30k sales). My solution? Just call it "digital art" and move on. Nobody can tell what's ai vs photoshop these days anyway and customers dgaf as long as they like what they get

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sairus

sairus April 4, 2025, 9:59 p.m.

Ur all missing the actual problem - the companies making these ai tools are the only guaranteed winners. They own the models, control the access, change terms whenever they want, and profit regardless of how copyright lawsuits shake out

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