Artists and cartoonists criticize the fact that the University of Salamanca publishes a comic generated by Artificial Intelligence, which this academic institution presented through the exhibition ‘On a blue background. An original story about the Sky of Salamanca’, a large mural that represents the celestial vault with its constellations from the 15th century and that has been attributed to Fernando Gallego. At the press conference of presentation, it was assured that the comic – with more than 140 pages and 212 panels – had been generated “entirely” with Artificial Intelligence.
The curator of the exhibition, Eduardo Azofra, assured that with the deadlines set, it was “unaffordable” for an illustrator to do it, but he stressed that the comic was based on “documented and rigorous texts, in which the main studies published so far on the astrological vault of the library and later on the study chapel of Salamanca. Now, the university nuances this participation of Artificial Intelligence.
This comic has caused a sensation in the art world, which criticizes a university institution for using generative AI. Interviewed by this newspaper, the director of the Cultural Activities Service (SAC) of USAL, Javier Panera, clarifies that the comic “was not made by an AI”, but rather by “researchers and teachers from USAL”, specialized in art. History., who were “involved in the project” after “months of work and countless hours of research and creation” to bring the Cielo de Salamanca to all types of public, whose original can be visited in the space located opposite. of the exhibition hall.
“The Artificial Intelligence programs were intermediate tools in the creation of images (under the direction of a team of researchers) that were then subjected to long and laborious work of post-production, reworking and retouching by the members of these teams,” explains Panera, which ensures that they have no evidence of having violated current copyright law.
Watercolors to “balance the plasticity” of AI
For the title of the chapters, watercolors made by the artist, sculptor and illustrator Miguel Sobrino González were used, who explains to this newspaper that his idea was to paint a chord with a base of Chinese ink and free strokes “so that it contrasts and balances the plastic of Artificial Intelligence.” Sobrino González assures to have painted a reconstruction of the sky of Salamanca that is in the diocesan museum, which served as inspiration for the comic.
This project is a consequence of several years ago. It all started with the research on the sky of Salamanca carried out by Azucena Hernández, a doctor in art history. He asked Sobrino González for an illustration, who made a paper model, which was later adapted to the hall of the new diocesan museum. This comic strip was intended to give greater dissemination to this Sky and that is why they asked Sobrino González to contribute new watercolors to describe the “key moments” in the history of the Sky: the construction, the painting, the transformation into a chapel, the destruction, its discovery and how these paintings were torn off. These illustrations will coexist with the images generated by AI.
The artist points out that these drawings have “many retouches and many layers.” “The confusion would be to compare this with this fallacious use of these technologies to do your work,” explains Sobrino González, who sees it as an example of technology “that is not mature” and that should not “displace” human work.
A technology that “violates copyright with impunity”
This use of generative AI has been criticized by the sector, which considers it “useless” and “absurd”, especially because the use comes from the University of Salamanca, an institution that has a university degree in Fine Arts and that did not participate in the process. The Federation of Entertainment, Graphic, Audiovisual and Paper Arts Unions (SEGAP) criticizes that the University of Salamanca should dedicate itself “to promoting education and not automation”. “It is a lack of respect for comic book professionals”, rejects SEGAP, which considers that this initiative sends the message that public institutions can “violate copyright with impunity”.
Arte es Ética, a non-profit collective that includes representatives of art from Spain and Latin America, warns against the emergence of generative AI. “This only demonstrates the lack of ethics of the institution and the cynicism of its representatives,” complains Naida Jazmín Ochoa, who recalls that there is already “plenty of evidence” on how generative AI has developed, an area that the rector of USAL also knows personally, who is a professor in the area of computer science and artificial intelligence.
“For an academic institution to promote, encourage and encourage the use of generative AI because it makes it easier, cheaper and faster to obtain a product, regardless of the price, is a horrible and dangerous message if we think about the type of people who are going to be trained in these spaces. They give the message that everything is allowed; that the medium does not matter but that what is important is the result,” protest Arte es Ética, which advocates the banning of commercial generative AI services.
The Ministry of Culture has met with groups, associations and federations of artists to address the use of generative AI. The Ministry of Culture “does not comply or has no authority,” according to SEGAP. “If the Ministry of Culture intends to act against this violation of rights, it must stop listening to employers, who take advantage of the fact that workers’ rights are not respected, and start opening channels of communication with associations and unions that “represent the people affected,” says the federation. From Arte es Ética, they wonder what was done after these meetings: “The promises of the representatives of the ministry were to accentuate and improve said communication so that these generative models would not be used. And what happened to all that?”
Product quality and AI mode
Other artists consulted by this newspaper protest because they consider that this use of AI devalues professional work and represents a violation of copyright. Mike Ruiz than the result that a human with a competent budget would have obtained.
Others, like Adrián García (Gartzia Art), believe that the university has tried to “join the trend” of AI, even though it “systematically steals any type of artist’s work and images it finds on the Internet.”
Iván Gil, illustrator and comic book artist, understands that this comic could be justified “if it were a very experimental activity”, which does not seem to be the case. “AI has been used to replace one or more human artists and it has been done with public funds”, protests Gil, who is dedicated to historical comics and understands that AI is an unstoppable tool. “It is understandable that we are totally against AI, but that is not the case. “We are against the use of a technology based on the massive theft of other colleagues’ work”, García emphasizes.
AI as a tool for the sector
More and more artists are advocating the use of AI as a tool, but not as a final product. The director of the specialized media Tomos y Grapas, Alfredo Matarranz, is committed to using AI that serves to speed up work or for first drafts, but not for the final results as in the posters of the city hall, books or this comic that USAL published.
Sergio Izquierdo, who combines his work as a comic book writer with that of a history professor, assures that AI, although “dangerous”, has come “to stay” and is committed to “defining well how to use it”. “It is paradoxical that a university, which always emphasizes the citation of sources and the authorship of works, uses this technology in this way”, Izquierdo protests.
Silvia Ballesteros, artist and tattooist, speaks along the same lines: “I thought they should be banned because they ‘drink’ other artists’ art to create new images, but I think they are a tool that is here to stay and that they should be used as such and not as an end.
As a comic book critic, Matarranz believes that this use of generative AI is a crime that is not yet regulated, although the first steps are being taken in the European Union with the approval of the Artificial Intelligence Act. “Artists make themselves known through social networks. Publishing their drawings on the Internet helps them to get known to publishers; but AI companies use them to do business, and this must be better regulated,” he emphasizes.
The Arte es Ética collective points out that there are around thirty active lawsuits in the world solely in the area of copyright against generative AI developers. “Under the pretext of using what is ‘publicly accessible’, companies like META have stated in various interviews that they use all the content on their platforms, Instagram, Facebook, to train their generative AI. We are already talking about photos and personal data of any user of these networks, whether they are artists or not. We are talking about these companies that violate everyone’s rights,” protests this group, which advocates for a ban on commercial generative AI services.
In any case, from the University of Salamanca they recall that “the use of AI tools and programs has long been assumed by the artistic system” and point out that an exhibition is planned that will include more than 300 album covers designed by comic book authors from five continents and dozens of comics with musical themes.
