Wherefore Art Thou: Mapping Public Debates about Image-Generative AI

Abstract

With the mainstreaming of image-generative AI in 2023, debates over the value, ethics, and legality of these technologies significantly engaged both public and scholarly communities. However, the current empirical examination of these debates on naturalistic data is sparse. This study fills this gap by offering descriptive, longitudinal account of public online debates about AI art. Inductive analysis identified ten themes in these debates, addressing not only law and ethics, but also nuanced (sometimes philosophical) debates about technology, labor, art, and learning. Longitudinal analysis revealed most discussion themes are relatively stable over time. Although most external events don’t generally elevate related discussions, debates about Fair Use and Competing Interests are more responsive to law or policy events, and themes such as Human versus Machine Learning and Tech Philosophies are more reactive to technology development events.