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Stable Diffusion is a big deal

simonwillison.net

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Re: Stable Diffusion is a big deal

#11

Post by Fordec »

michaelchisari wrote: post #6

After using SD heavily for a week, I half agree with this. It is incredibly disruptive, and it's wild how much it accelerates the creative process. I'll give you that. But two things I've noticed: First, artists will still have a massive advantage over non-artists with this tool. A photographer who intimately knows the different lenses and cameras and industry terms will get to a representation of their idea much fas…

For every tool, a better output will always be created by people who specialize in a craft. Just as photoshop revolutionized photography, to this day you can tell the difference easily between and bad 'shops.

In video games upon release everyone is bad and its an even playing field. But as people practice and gain experience they improve their usage, refine their approaches. You eventually see metas develop and best practices.

This will all be exactly the same. Just give it some time and watch professionals create professional outputs compared to paying for some base level work on Fiverr or whatever.

Re: Stable Diffusion is a big deal

#12

Post by klipt »

throwaway1851 wrote: post #8
LewisVerstappen wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do people keep bringing up copyright anyway? It seems pretty clear that the images being generated by StableDiffusion are transformative so it's protected under Fair Use. Am I missing something here?

There are really significant, novel copyright issues implicated by these large generative models trained on other people’s IP. If you take a step back, you can see that there are different ways to frame what is happening. One frame is: “Defendant built an algorithm that memorized features of Plaintiff’s IP. Defendant’s algorithm recombines parts of those features in order to produce works in the same domain that comp…

> “Defendant built an algorithm that memorized features of Plaintiff’s IP. Defendant’s algorithm recombines parts of those features in order to produce works in the same domain that compete with Plaintiff’s work, all without Plaintiff’s consent.”

The fun part is, this is how human artists learn too.

Re: Stable Diffusion is a big deal

#13

Post by ItsMonkk »

thot_experiment wrote: post #2

Maybe this current explosion in the relevance and visibility of this kind of AI model will finally lead us to rethink how insanely nonsensical our IP systems are. I'm not holding my breath, but there's hope that this sort of thing will (combined with situations like the HBO debacle) clarify the need for massive IP reform in the cultural zeitgeist. The problem here isn't that the model was trained on copyrighted works…

Creating and allowing public use is a positive externality. Negative externalities should be taxed, and positive externalities should be subsidized.

Everyone should be able to freely use any public works, and governments should ensure that people whose art is being used to train these models are able to continue to do so.

Re: Stable Diffusion is a big deal

#14

Post by michaelchisari »

Swizec wrote: post #10
michaelchisari wrote: post #6

After using SD heavily for a week, I half agree with this. It is incredibly disruptive, and it's wild how much it accelerates the creative process. I'll give you that. But two things I've noticed: First, artists will still have a massive advantage over non-artists with this tool. A photographer who intimately knows the different lenses and cameras and industry terms will get to a representation of their idea much fas…

What about using this tech for ideation and artists for production? You could use Stable Diffusion et al to create new characters based on a prompt, then farm the concept out to artists to produce individual works. Kind of like hiring a super expensive agency to design your new logo or brand identity, then using a stable of in-house designers to translate the concept into UI, ads, etc.

That’s where it’ll be truly disruptive. SD for ideation, humanity for the final product.

Re: Stable Diffusion is a big deal

#15

Post by Toadtoad »

LewisVerstappen wrote: post #3
thot_experiment wrote: post #2

Maybe this current explosion in the relevance and visibility of this kind of AI model will finally lead us to rethink how insanely nonsensical our IP systems are. I'm not holding my breath, but there's hope that this sort of thing will (combined with situations like the HBO debacle) clarify the need for massive IP reform in the cultural zeitgeist. The problem here isn't that the model was trained on copyrighted works…

Why do people keep bringing up copyright anyway? It seems pretty clear that the images being generated by StableDiffusion are transformative so it's protected under Fair Use. Am I missing something here?

Whether a work is transformative or not isn't the only factor that goes towards a fair use ruling. Bring transformative is just a part of the "purpose and character of use", which is a single factor weighed alongside the nature of the original work, the amount and substance used (if the "heart of the work" was copied), and the effect the derivative has on the market for the original work. It's much more complicated here, and will have to be ruled on a case-by-case basis, as far as I know, and copyright holders could potentially make many cases using the other factors that a use isn't fair. I do think it should be considered fair use, but as the law currently stands, it does appear to be more complex, at least from my point of view.

Note: I am absolutely not a legal expert.

Re: Stable Diffusion is a big deal

#16

Post by jtolmar »

LewisVerstappen wrote: post #3
thot_experiment wrote: post #2

Maybe this current explosion in the relevance and visibility of this kind of AI model will finally lead us to rethink how insanely nonsensical our IP systems are. I'm not holding my breath, but there's hope that this sort of thing will (combined with situations like the HBO debacle) clarify the need for massive IP reform in the cultural zeitgeist. The problem here isn't that the model was trained on copyrighted works…

Why do people keep bringing up copyright anyway? It seems pretty clear that the images being generated by StableDiffusion are transformative so it's protected under Fair Use. Am I missing something here?

The new technology looks like it could threaten artists' livelihoods by replicating something about their work. The old legal framework for protecting artists' livelihoods from photocopiers etc was copyright. The goal of making sure artists can both make art and eat is still relevant, so people reach for the tool that used to make sure that was possible.

Re: Stable Diffusion is a big deal

#20

Post by gernb »

thot_experiment wrote: post #2

Maybe this current explosion in the relevance and visibility of this kind of AI model will finally lead us to rethink how insanely nonsensical our IP systems are. I'm not holding my breath, but there's hope that this sort of thing will (combined with situations like the HBO debacle) clarify the need for massive IP reform in the cultural zeitgeist. The problem here isn't that the model was trained on copyrighted works…

How about some company just make site that licenses art. In secret they run SD to generate images forever. They use image search to search for similar images on the net and claim copyright. PROFIT!!!
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