AI is taking First Nations art and turning it into \u201cTemu slop\u201d, the Pitjantjatjara artist Sally Scales has said.<\/p>\n
Scales, the chair of the National Gallery of Australia\u2019s First Nations advisory group, said the technology is undermining the agency of First Nations artists and the authenticity of their work and represents a \u201ca theft\u201d of cultural knowledge.<\/p>\n
Despite prime minister Anthony Albanese\u2019s vow to protect Australian creatives from copyright theft,<\/a> and the attorney general, Michelle Rowland, saying there are \u201cno plans to weaken copyright protections\u201d, AI has already been trained \u2013 without compensation \u2013on the works of well known Australian artists including Kylie Minogue and Nick Cave.<\/a><\/p>\n But experts are particularly worried about the risks to Indigenous cultural and intellectual property (ICIP) and in a world where AI companies can hoover up anything that may be found online, including songs and paintings that include sacred and cultural knowledge. AI has altered work, removed names and then been sold, an act the peak body for Australian visual artists said was causing \u201ccultural and economic harm\u201d.<\/p>\n Searches on sites including Temu, Shein and Amazon reveal countless works described as Aboriginal paintings, as well as items such as coasters and stubby holders bearing Aboriginal-style designs, mostly without attribution to any artist.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s in the name, it\u2019s artificial,\u201d Scales said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve seen some works where I look at it and wonder if they\u2019ve gone through a First Nations community or a person, or if it\u2019s something generic that they\u2019ve whipped up.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a theft of the agency of the artist. It rips the authenticity out of it, because it\u2019s not been made by anyone who has the connection \u2026 the artist\u2019s family lineage is not there, the lived experience is not there.\u201d<\/p>\n