Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is facing backlash from artists online after illustrating a children’s book with artificial intelligence (AI).
During Meta’s annual Connect conference on Wednesday, Zuckerberg revealed that his six-year-old daughter August wrote a book that they later illustrated with the company’s AI tool.
In a post to Instagram, Zuckerberg showcased how the company’s AI not only generated images but a theatrical trail for the book as well.
“My daughter August wrote a book, The Mermaid Crystal, and we used Meta AI to illustrate the book and create this trailer,” the billionaire wrote. “And yes, a sequel is already in the works. Proud dad!”
But many in the comments, particularly artists, took issue with the creation.
AI, they argued, took much-needed jobs away from the artistic community.
“Or you know, you can hire actual artists,” one user wrote.
Others pointed out howthe illustrations were “stealing artists’ style with AI,” while many called on Zuckerberg to “support real artists” instead.
Over on Threads, where Zuckerberg also shared the images, responses were much the same.
“If only he knew of a social networking platform that is filled with amazing artists from around the world who could illustrate children’s books,” one Threads user said.
Best-selling author Jason Pinter proclaimed that Zuckerberg’s creation made him “effing angry.”
“Mark Zuckerberg used AI to illustrate his daughter’s children’s book and this makes me so effing angry,” Pinter wrote. “He could have hired a PHALANX of amazing illustrators, but instead he used a computer program. If we don’t support actual artists, there won’t be any more artists.”
Post by @jasonpinterView on Threads
Yet despite the backlash, many commenters still appeared to side with AI.
In response to Pinter, one user argued that Zuckerberg’s use of AI was perfectly justified.
“I think you’ve missed the point of the exercise. if you’re going to make a children’s book instead of buying one of the thousands available, you’re doing it because you think you can make it personal,” the user responded. “Being rich doesn’t change that. For Zuck, AI is important and personal (to him). Hiring artists won’t get you a better book, and it probably won’t be more personal.”
Since AI image-generators first became widely available, artists have railed against them. A collection of artists are currently suing major AI companies for copyright infringement, given that they used images downloaded from the internet to train their systems.
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