A.I. for Art for Children's Books?
The Ins and Outs of Using A.I. Generated Art
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AI for Children’s Picture Book Art?
I’ve avoided talking about artificial intelligence and how it affects our work, but the issue has only grown larger. It’s time to talk.
I've written a book about artificial intelligence, which explains the basic idea of the current state of A.I. For a task such as recognizing a photograph of a cat, one approach is to give a computer program rules: “If there’s a circle with two triangles on top, it’s a cat’s face.” The problem is that there are too many variables. What if the cat is running versus curled up with its paws over its face? Quickly, the rules to cover every variation of “cat” become unwieldy.
Instead, today’s A.I. computer programs are trained on massive amounts of data. For example, to be able to recognize a photograph of a cat, the program is fed data that is labeled CAT or NOT CAT. Then, the program develops its own mathematical “idea” of what a cat is and isn’t. Rather than trying to develop rules, the program does the hard task of creating the mathematical idea of a cat.
COPYRIGHT PROBLEMS
The problem here is “trained on massive amounts of data.” For us as creators, this is a massive problem because of copyright. The companies that have created today’s A.I. programs are accused of violating copyright by using copyrighted material to train the programs. Notice that “massive” amounts of data are required. That’s because, in our cat example, there are so many variations of cats that you need many different variations or the program won’t be accurate.
For the Large Language Models (LLM), such as ChatGPT or Claude, current lawsuits allege that copyrighted works were used without permission to train the program. For imagery programs such as MidJourney, current lawsuits allege that copyrighted works were used without permission to train the program.
I’m not a legal expert, and I’ve no idea which way the courts will rule.
What I DO know is that I don’t want to be caught on the wrong side of a decision. In practical terms, until the courts rule on some of these basic cases, I won’t use AI generated material in my books.
CREATIVE PROBLEMS
Beyond the legal questions, though, there’s a deeper question: Does the AI generated text or images solve a creative problem for my books?
For me, the answer is no.
WRITING. I’ve tested ChatGPT, asking it to write a children’s book about a certain topic. The resulting text is awkward, cliched, too wordy, and boring. The AI programs currently write in formal, stilted language. Read aloud, the text is clunky and doesn’t have ear appeal. Worse, the plot line and characters are cookie cutter. Boring.
IMAGERY. Likewise, removing the human factor creates cliched imagery. For example, I asked a program put a girl with braided hair in front of a dragon. While the images were impressive, the dragon was every dragon you’ve ever seen. The scenery was a medieval castle, and the braided hair was intricate, but nothing new. Together, the elements created something interesting—and yet, cliched.
The missing element in the writing and imagery is the human element of creativity. The nature of AI is to build upon the data on which it was trained. Its strength is to use elements in new ways, putting together unexpected elements or putting them together in new ways. Its weakness is that it can’t create new ideas. The AI program may thrust you into a new paradigm, which jumpstarts your creativity. But it can’t create out of nothing.
When I see a book created with AI art, it saddens me. The human element is missing and the book is weaker than it might have been. AI will never replace human creativity. Joanna Penn, writer and podcaster who is “AI optimistic,” keeps reminding us to “double down into being a human.”
THE FUTURE OF AI
A.I. is here and already a part of our world in so many ways.
Spell check is a simple A.I. program. STOP spell checking if you’re against all A.I.
If you dictate or speak a message into a texting program, it’s A.I.
A.I. is embedded into medicine, banking, teaching, your phones—your world. And there’s no way to avoid it.
Yes, I know. I’m being EXTREMELY simplistic on this issue. I’ve read and read about the complicated issues. But the question of using A.I. in a “published work,” a book that my company would publish, seems simple. No.
I choose to think I’m being PRACTICAL.
A.I. has the potential to help us create:
As long as we understand its limitations, strengths, and weaknesses.
However, until the legal issues are solved, as a small business, I am not willing to do anything that will leave me in a questionable legal position.
I will not do anything that might have to be redone at a later time to remove A.I-generated material, as I don’t have time for that.
Ten years from now, the guidelines and legal issues surrounding A.I. will be litigated. Right now, I’m practical. No A.I. images in my books. The only A.I. I use to write is a spell check and grammar check.
Darcy, thanks for such a succinct observation on the pitfalls of using AI. I agree. The only AI I will continue to use is spell and grammar check. Best, Edie
This was extremely interesting and insightful. I'm with you, with using AI in those small safe way. Thank you for writing. it.