Has the sun set on the profession of illustrator?
More and more publications are starting to use illustrations generated by algorithms such as DALL·E, Midjourney and others to accompany their articles, suggesting a trend from simply demonstrating that it is possible to set an algorithm to generate an image for an article to a more systematic use now that it is easier than ever to explain to an algorithm what it you want to illustrate.
Commissioning an illustration from one of these algorithms is as simple as typing a sentence: in the one accompanying this article, I asked for “a robot painting a picture of a sunset”, to which can be added further requirements, for which the algorithm generates four suggestions..
Who does the illustration belong to? It’s not an easy question to answer. It could be the property of the creators of the tool, but in this case, considering that the tool is fed by a huge database of illustrations in which it searches to “understand” what you are asking for, the chain becomes more complex. On the other hand, if the algorithm is supplied with images previously created by human illustrators, is this process sustainable over time? What happens when more and more images are obtained in this way? Will we tend to converge on a certain style or styles? Or will it lead to a creative revolution by allowing anyone to create illustrations, even if they are not able —…
