Attention, event prohibited for machines! The 13the Montreal BD Festival, which begins Friday, has chosen to define itself as an event “which highlights art made by humans” and to ban any work generated by artificial intelligence (AI). A decision which reflects the concern created by recent advances in AI within an already very fragile environment.
Any work of art designed, in whole or in part, by generative AI is therefore excluded from the Bédélys prizes and sales areas, explains Mélanie La Roche, general director of the festival.
“There is not much to protect artists and creators. It was the gesture we could take, within our means, to support them and recognize their hard work,” she emphasizes.
According to Mme La Roche, fears about the excesses of AI and its consequences on the work of cartoonists are already numerous within the Quebec comics community. “Arts jobs are not necessarily the best paid jobs. The conditions are not easy. If, in addition, there are [options] inexpensive — or even free — to replace the work that is done by illustrators…. », she worries. She also notes that certain Quebec publishing houses are already using AI, consciously or not, to illustrate book covers.
While the first albums made with the help of AI are emerging, the machine has the potential to replace “small professions in the world of drawing, such as illustration for books or magazines, which are a central point in the financial balance of the authors”, mentions Jean-Charles Andrieu de Levis, professor of comics at the School of Arts and Cultures of the University of Quebec in Outaouais.
“We are witnessing a tension, a fear around AI within the community of comic book creators, in a way similar to what graphic designers experienced when InDesign software arrived and everyone was able to use their techniques layout [au début des années 2000] », Explains the researcher.
AI also poses a huge copyright problem. Indeed, AI software capable of generating images, such as Midjourney or Dall-E, was trained using millions of illustrations collected from the Web, most often without the consent of the creators. “It is the designers who feed these machines, but there are no permissions requested or royalties distributed. This lack of regulation greatly worries artists,” raises Mélanie La Roche.
A tool like any other?
Even so, examples of comic books designed entirely using AI are starting to pile up. In Japan, the famous manga Blackjack, whose author Osamu Tezuka died more than 30 years ago, had a posthumous sequel in 2023 thanks to the use of AI. In France, a young new technology entrepreneur with no experience in comics, Benjamin Arbeit, turned a few heads by publishing a first science fiction album created in just three weeks.
Still in France, veteran Thierry Murat caused a stir last year by publishing an album generated from Midjourney software, entitled initial_A. The author described his approach as a reflection on “the algorithmization of the world and humanity”, the dangers of hyperconnectivity and the relationship between humans and machines. With around twenty years of experience behind the tie and albums published by Futoropolis and Delcourt, Murat has already proven that he knows how to use a pencil. Under pressure from other designers, his project was however abandoned by Delcourt, and it was ultimately thanks to a crowdfunding campaign that the book was able to land in stores.
AI allowed him to “do [s]”We’re simply a comic book author, but in a new and unexpected way,” he explained to the magazine. ActuaBD. “Criticizing the algorithmization of the world using this image generation tool is cheeky, I admit. But beyond that, I am certain that I would never have been able to go this far in the creation of this book without actually experiencing the famous man-machine boundary which is the central theme of the story. »
AI can actually be used for creative purposes if it is well supervised, believes Mélanie La Roche. “AI can be a tool to alleviate certain tasks for artists. We already see this in software like Photoshop. We don’t want to prevent people from finding shortcuts, tools to help them. But we must protect authors and their rights. »
“What is disturbing is that there are no safeguards or ethics linked to the question of AI,” adds Jean-Charles Andrieu de Levis. According to him, AI raises many philosophical questions, in particular about our relationship to art, according to which “all work necessarily comes from the hand of a man or a woman”.
“It’s an essential debate to have,” he said. A debate that can also be done pencil in hand.