How Professional Visual Artists are Negotiating Generative AI in the Workplace

TL;DR

This study surveys 378 professional visual artists to understand how they perceive and negotiate the use of generative AI in their workplaces, revealing widespread opposition and negative impacts on their careers.

Contribution

It provides empirical insights into artists' attitudes and strategies regarding generative AI, highlighting the social and environmental factors influencing their resistance.

Findings

Most artists oppose generative AI use.

Artists employ refusal strategies to exclude AI.

Generative AI negatively impacts job opportunities and increases stress.

Abstract

Generative AI has been heavily critiqued by artists in both popular media and HCI scholarship. However, more work is needed to understand the impacts of generative AI on professional artists' workplaces and careers. In this paper, we conduct a survey of 378 verified professional visual artists about how generative AI has impacted their careers and workplaces. We find (1) most visual artists are strongly opposed to using generative AI (text or visual) and negotiate their inclusion in the workplace through a variety of refusal strategies (2) there exist a range of factors in artists environments shaping their use of generative AI, including pressure from clients, bosses, and peers and (3) visual artists report overwhelmingly negative impacts of generative AI on their workplaces, leading to added stress and reduced job opportunities. In light of these findings, we encourage HCI researchers to contend more deeply with artists' desires not to use generative AI in the workplace.