The commercial market has largely sided with pragmatism. AI-generated works have sold at auction for prices ranging from a few hundred dollars to over a million. Christie's, which made headlines in 2018 by selling an AI portrait for four hundred and thirty-two thousand dollars, now includes a dedicated AI art category in its seasonal sales.
For working artists, the stakes are personal. Illustrators, concept artists, and graphic designers have seen their livelihoods threatened as clients turn to cheaper and faster AI alternatives. The Graphic Artists Guild reported a thirty-percent decline in freelance commissions over the past two years, a trend its president attributes directly to generative AI.
Legislation has struggled to keep pace. Copyright offices in several countries have ruled that works created solely by AI cannot be copyrighted, but the boundaries of sole creation are blurry when a human is involved in the process. Several lawsuits are currently working their way through courts in the United States and the European Union.
Back at the Whitney, the controversial paintings continue to draw crowds. Whether visitors come to admire or to protest, the museum reports that attendance has increased by twenty percent since the exhibition opened. Art, it seems, still has the power to provoke.