Lots of ink has been spilled about AI these past few weeks. After ChatGPT, which can come up with written text in the blink of an eye, the spotlight is now on image-generating AI such as Dall-E, cartoonization ai and Midjourney. Illustrators are up in arms, both because they see this as a threat to their livelihood and because the AI algorithms are learning by ingesting the work of millions of illustrators in order to learn how to create compelling visuals. Many illustrators strongly feel this is a clear breach of their copyright.
While all this has been unfolding, political cartoonists have kept unusually mum on the issue. We wondered why that is, so we sent a very short survey (designed by Emanuele Del Rosso) to our cartoonist community earlier this week, asking them how they feel about AI.
Cartoonists aren’t that concerned about AI
More than 50 of them took the time to fill out the survey. From their responses we might learn something about how editorial cartoonists think about AI in general. We first asked them how much they knew about what AI can do in relation to art, on a scale of 1 to 5. A minority of 14% confessed to know little or nothing about AI, while most cartoonists ranked themselves 3 or higher on the AI knowledge scale.
Next we asked them if they ever had used AI generated visuals for their own work. 92,6% had not. The few cartoonists who had mostly used it just to try it out, although one cartoonists used it to create reference material.
After that, we went on the the most important question: do you feel threatened by AI in your profession?
Overall, most of the cartoonists are not seriously concerned. We again used a scale of 1 to 5; none of the respondents marked the perceived threat higher than 3, while most scored it 1, saying they did not worry at all. We also asked them to motivate their answers. One unworried cartoonist commented: ‘I once asked an AI to draw a cartoon in the style of the French cartoonist Plantu. It gave me different pictures of plants! So, I am not worried so far.’
Those who do perceive AI as a kind of threat, however, fear that AI keeps on getting better and better until it replaces all the human artists, too – once newspapers and magazines’ editors settle for the probably much cheaper variant of using AI-generated illustrations and cartoons. As one cartoonist says: ‘Although artificial intelligence cannot do as effective things as we do, it is at a level that can satisfy the needs of people. For this reason, I think people may prefer to get free or cheaper AI products instead of investing in our work.’
Unstoppable march of technology
There does seem to be a division in the way cartoonists are viewing the issue of AI. Some think there is absolutely no threat, since the AI can never create humor and satire like humans, while others feel technology just keeps getting better and better until it is fine-tuned to where AI could do political cartoons just like a human. Mostly, all agree on one thing: technology is a march that cannot be halted. Hopes spring up for some when proper legislative regulations will come with their own laws, relieving the human creators to an extent. A few look upon the creation of cartoons as being a very valuable tool in their craft.
I wasn’t surprised by the result of the survey. The opinions that come closest to mine about AI are those I also expect from other cartoonists. Most cartoonists, I believe, don’t feel threatened by AI-so far-because it is just not capable of creating satire yet. You could say the drawing isn’t the core of our business anyway, the core of the political cartoon is an idea which we then convert into a visual metaphor.
While illustrators probably have cause to be worried by the ability of computers to create images on demand, I would think there is some way to go before AI can match the skill and wit of a good cartoonist. Having said that, there of course is the possibility that people with no drawing skills may use AI to create their own editorial cartoons, thereby making them no longer in need of us political artists. But we’ve already seen this in the proliferation of memes, which have added to the field of satire to be sure, but hardly replaced editorial cartoonists. I suspect this is because creating cartoons requires a rather particular skill-set-one you get only by doing it, a lot.
But probably the biggest, most cynical reason most cartoonists don’t fear AI is that being a cartoonist just isn’t much of a business model to begin with. So, considering how hard it already is to make money in our little niche of the labor market, how much worse could AI make it?
Some are scared by the growing AI, while others, on the contrary, believe it will cooperate rather than compete with cartoon artists. That AI might smooth out just a little bit of the process for inspiration, looking at things from another angle, and let the cartoonist focus on what really matters-the message. That is where the idea, the satire, the fun of any good cartoon is, and that’s where the human touch comes in brightest.
Furthermore, AI is not responsible. A cartoon can provoke discussion, criticism, and even debate, but it has to be someone who has to stand behind the content. The AI does not bear the brunt of public opinion; neither is it able to discuss its work. That is one field where the human artist still holds an upper hand-to interact with his audience, to be part of the cultural conversation.
The community is alert. It certainly realizes that this capability of AI for generating images will continue to increase, and with it, the potential for impacts in the field get larger. Ethical guidelines and issues of copyright are the other gray areas in which cartoonists would want to see improvement-one that would let creatives’ contribution stay recognized and valued amidst the evolution of technology.
