Artist Molly Crabapple Condemns AI as History's Greatest Art Heist in Guardian Essay
Molly Crabapple, an artist, describes generative AI as the most significant art theft ever, highlighting that since 2022, her creations and billions of other images have been taken from the internet without permission. She has noticed AI-generated replicas of her artwork. In 2023, illustrators Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan, and Karla Ortiz filed a lawsuit against Midjourney and Stability AI for infringing on their rights, with the case still in progress. Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen argued that enforcing copyright could negatively affect the AI sector. During the 2023 Perugia journalism festival, Crabapple pointed out that while tech proponents advocate for AI in newsrooms, they also recognize it threatens writers' jobs. Together with journalist Marisa Mazria Katz, she initiated an open letter opposing AI-generated images in newsrooms, which has garnered thousands of signatures. Crabapple cautions that AI's influence endangers jobs, community, and culture.
Key facts
- Generative AI systems scraped billions of images from the internet without consent or compensation starting around 2022
- Artist Molly Crabapple first noticed AI knock-offs of her work in 2022
- In January 2023, illustrators Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan, and Karla Ortiz sued Midjourney and Stability AI for rights violations
- The lawsuit against AI image-generation companies is still ongoing as of 2026
- Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen claimed in 2023 that copyright enforcement would 'kill' the AI industry
- At the 2023 Perugia journalism festival, tech advocates promoted AI adoption in newsrooms while privately acknowledging it would eliminate writers
- Molly Crabapple and journalist Marisa Mazria Katz launched an open letter demanding AI-generated images be kept out of newsrooms
- OpenAI's chief technology officer Mira Murati said in 2024 that creative jobs destroyed by AI 'shouldn't have been there in the first place'
Entities
Artists
- Molly Crabapple
- Sarah Andersen
- Kelly McKernan
- Karla Ortiz
- Brian Merchant
- Cory Doctorow
- Yanis Varoufakis
- Elia Barbieri
Institutions
- The Guardian
- Midjourney
- Stability AI
- OpenAI
- Perugia journalism festival
- Bloomsbury
- Little, Brown US
- Verso
- Bodley Head
Locations
- Perugia
- Italy
- Australia