The (art)ificial intelligence takeover has arrived in Texas.

By Mattie Fossberg

““Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” – Arthur C. Clarke

SAN MARCOS, TX- Students, professionals, and consumers are embracing an uncertain future in the famous Texas art industry, thanks to the rise of digital automation.

Art has been considered an exclusively human expression until now. Technology is integrated more and more aggressively into everyday life, leaving many to wonder if anything we do will remain untouched. The power of generative artificial intelligence in an increasingly tech-reliant society blurs the lines of what is acceptable in a relationship between companies, employees, and consumers.

Graphic design and advertising

Courtesy of @reesabobeesa via Instagram
Courtesy of @glassofjuiceplz via Instagram

Generative artificial intelligence, or AI, is a computer program’s ability to generate condensed information based on a conglomeration of online data to answer a user’s prompt. The AI generators most commonly utilized by the general public, including chat generator ChatGPT and image generator Dall-E, are developed by the company OpenAI. The company acknowledges the potential harm its technology could inflict on people in its mission statement on its company website. With the power to construct artificial yet highly realistic visual media comes great responsibility.

About 70% of Americans use at least one social media account and spend a little over 7 hours online daily, according to data collected by DataReportal. Thousands of digital advertisements are presented on those screens within that same day. Visual advertising can not be understated in influencing consumers’ financial decisions. The Internet is a haven for False advertising as it becomes increasingly present and decreasingly subtle.

A study by the Association for Computing Machines revealed that audiences are less likely to trust an advertisement if they believe it to be composed by AI. Texas State University students who take classes in the advertising field are no strangers to AI-generated ads because they create them for projects and assignments, according to senior advertising major Kacey Stewart.

“We’re doing a project right now where we have to create an entire ad campaign for CollegeBoard basically, and it’s like a real deal,” Stewart says. “I’m in the group working on the visual design, and it looks terrible because we have to use AI. It looks cheap; I don’t know why any company would actually want to advertise their business this way.”

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1j0ZvHTWyCInHiq56gEIPnvF3xFQnLHA&usp=sharing

Graphic design is a significant component of everyday life, landing designers in an unsuspectingly influential position. Walmart is under scrutiny for selling a decorative canvas depicting an AI-generated perfume bottle for over $20. The bottle is labeled “Chane,” clearly a misspelling of the luxury brand Chanel. Artists and product designers are essential for delivering an ethical, memorable, and compelling message that serves clients’ and consumers’ needs.

Programs under the OpenAI umbrella collect data for their generative outputs through licensing contracts with various content providers. This means the software scours a huge range of media uploaded to the Internet, and when a prompt is fulfilled, it creates a well-crafted design based on algorithms from the collected data. It’s not legally stealing because of the contracts, but it does raise concerns about copyright infringement.

Lucky Sky Graphics is a local business founded and owned by Jeanenne Herber. Her designers decorate San Marcos with art, banners, flyers, and more. Prospective clients rely on Herber’s original designs and expertise to stand out. However, she wonders if the authenticity of intellectual property is a thing of the past.

“We have had people come to us with work that is trademarked or even has a watermark on it, and they’ll still ask us to print it,” Herber says. “Obviously, we can’t do that, but if somebody comes in with a design that they made with AI, well, we won’t know if that work is stolen or is ripping off someone else’s design.

Music

Music is inescapable. It fills cars, storefronts, headphones, restaurants, and showers. Humans take music everywhere. It’s the preferred accessory of many. Sound, of course, is not exempt from the broad capabilities of AI. Music has always adapted to the rise of technology, from synth-pop to SoundCloud rap.

AI voices are the 21st Century mainstream. A prime example is the recent release by Drake, a world-renowned rapper with a massive following. His song features AI-generated vocal performances of Tupac and Snoop Dogg, sparking a debate on the ethical implications of impersonating artists, both living and deceased, via computer. This discussion, once centered around hologram performances, has now taken a new, more complex turn.

Aside from music production and performances, AI promotions are stirring up controversy in the music industry. American rapper Lil Yachty released an album early last year and opted for AI-generated album art. The face of the album features a disfigured board of executives that exudes an uncanny valley. Other artists are taking notes and following suit, including lower-income artists and even the most unsuspecting of people, like William Shatner.

Album art for *Lets Start Here* by Lil Yachty

Move over, Mariah Carey! Suno, a new program developed by OpenAI, has a vocal range like no other. Users are invited to feed the generator a prompt. They are rewarded with a custom song featuring considerably convincing instruments and vocals. Users can publicly upload their music to be listened to by thousands of people. A lively J-Pop Techno concoction titled “oh, my love,” uploaded by user Oliver McCann, has 580,285 listens. That’s almost the whole population of El Paso. Users cannot mimic the voices of specific artists. However, the company does not disclose where they source the data the program uses to replicate voices.

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