One signal

Dr Steve Henderson, co-founder and festival director of Manchester Animation Festival, argues that generative AI takes from artists without fairly rewarding them. He also questions whether AI-generated work should count as animation at all.

Henderson made the case in an interview with Prolific North. He says artists’ skills and work are being used to make money for others, and describes generative AI as “almost like colonialism”. That is his criticism, not a finding that settles the argument. But it gets to a live creative-industry question: when AI can imitate a craft, who should benefit from the work and expertise behind it?

Discuss: Should AI-generated animation count as animation, and should artists whose work helps train these systems share in the value they create?

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