Really interesting technology at play here, with tools like DALL-E and Midjourney. Some of the images they spit out are incredible, and some are trash - much like human artists. But aside from the interesting tech and the threat (?) of AI-artistry to human-artists, the article raises another big implication: are AI-generated images copyrightable? Currently it looks like the US Copyright Office says no:
But what about the human input to the AI? These tools could be considered like a paintbrush - they don't do anything on their own, it takes a human hand to give the right prompt to create the image. And while the prompt could be really basic like: "Elon Musk holding a Twitter bird," some are also very specific and detailed, like: "Close-up of [pick your favorite person] in Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, emerging from black mud, long hair with dreads, war blue paint, paint fading, angry expression, dirty face, finely detailed eyes, moody, viking clothes, epic scene, epic composition, Photography, Cinematic Lighting, Volumetric Lighting, ethereal light, intricate details, extremely detailed volumetric rays"
Some other examples in a variety of styles:
If you want to go down the rabbit hole: https://www.reddit.com/r/midjourney/