Chinese artists boycott social media platform over AI-generated images

An article on CNN by Berry Wang and Jessie Yeung explores the controversy of AI-generated images in China and their impact on artists, writing that artists across China are boycotting one of the country’s biggest social media platforms. As they explain: 

“The controversy began in August when an illustrator who goes by the name Snow Fish accused the privately owned social media site Xiaohongshu of using her work to train its AI tool, Trik AI, without her knowledge or permission.

The controversy erupted just weeks after China unveiled rules for generative AI, becoming one of the first governments to regulate the technology as countries around the world wrestle with AI’s potential impact on jobs, national security and intellectual property.

Hundreds of artists have posted banners on Xiaohongshu saying ‘No to AI-generated images,’ while a related hashtag has been viewed more than 35 million times on the Chinese Twitter-like platform Weibo.”

This is part of a world-wide discussion on AI and how to regulate it, especially as it relates to creators’ rights, human rights and rights to privacy. In June 2023, for example, the European Union adopted a legal framework for artificial intelligence and in August 2023 China published new rules on AI regulation. 

Read the full CNN article to learn more about this interesting case in China. 

Image: A screen shot shows AI boycott messages by artists on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu. Image from CNN.