If you've ever read through the terms of service/use for most websites that artists like to show off their work on (Instagram, Facebook, DeviantArt, ArtStation, Twitter, Reddit, etc.) you would realize that the work was indeed not stolen.
It was given away freely by artists due to fine print buried in the terms of service with royalty free licenses. Just lookup any Terms of Service and search for the word "royalty".
If artists should be going after anyone, it's the companies that either freely gave the artwork away by "sharing it with their partners" or by making a profit off of their work by selling it to any of these companies for training these image generating models.
The root of the problem here is the lack of ownership of our own data when it comes to any sort of online service. Part of that problem is just the nature of posting something in the first place.
ArtStationThey do allow you to tag your projects now to prohibit them from being sold for use with Generative AI programs, but this option obviously did not exist some years ago.
You additionally grant a royalty-free, perpetual, world-wide, fully sub-licensable (through multiple tiers) license to Epic limited to using, copying, editing, modifying, inputting, and integrating Your Content into and in connection with the development and testing of Epic’s Safety and Discovery Tools (together with the above license, the “Licenses”).
::: spoiler Instagram
When you share, post, or upload content that is covered by intellectual property rights (like photos or videos) on or in connection with our Service, you hereby grant to us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to host, use, distribute, modify, run, copy, publicly perform or display, translate, and create derivative works of your content (consistent with your privacy and application settings).
::
If you've ever read through the terms of service/use for most websites that artists like to show off their work on (Instagram, Facebook, DeviantArt, ArtStation, Twitter, Reddit, etc.) you would realize that the work was indeed not stolen.
It was given away freely by artists due to fine print buried in the terms of service with royalty free licenses. Just lookup any Terms of Service and search for the word "royalty".
If artists should be going after anyone, it's the companies that either freely gave the artwork away by "sharing it with their partners" or by making a profit off of their work by selling it to any of these companies for training these image generating models.
The root of the problem here is the lack of ownership of our own data when it comes to any sort of online service. Part of that problem is just the nature of posting something in the first place.
DeviantArt
One artist raised the alarm back in 2016 about the licensing at the time: https://www.deviantart.com/dsc-the-artist/journal/DeviantArt-CAN-USE-your-ART-WITHOUT-PERMISSION-616830749ArtStation
They do allow you to tag your projects now to prohibit them from being sold for use with Generative AI programs, but this option obviously did not exist some years ago.::: spoiler Instagram
Etc...