Our society has become increasingly reliant on AI. Many use it to write, answer questions, and even think for them. For the most part, AI usage was a written input-output system where you would ask it something, and it would type something back out to you. Now, there are forms of AI that you can request to generate an image with specific details, and it will generate the exact image you were describing. While this may seem like a great tool, the recent use of generating book covers with AI by authors completely mocks the act of actual human creation.
The reason people create art is because they are filled with passion and they express it through art. AI is not filled with passion, it is a machine that mimics the passion and knowledge of humans. It may sound human when chatting with it but do not be mistaken artificial intelligence is exactly that: artificial. It will never be able to replicate the genuine human feelings and passion that go into creating.
The most common AI programs that authors use to generate book cover images are called Midjourney and DALL-E. Midjourney attempts to generate artistic images based off of your prompt in the attempt to mimic the creative liberties an actual human artist might take when creating a commissioned piece. DALL-E takes a more specific approach; it will generate exactly what you tell it to and often aim for realism unless you tell it otherwise.
These AI programs make it easy, quick, and cheap for authors to see their vision come to life for their book cover. All they have to do is type a few sentences into the program, wait a second and just like magic, a ready-to-go book cover is generated. If the author doesn’t like the first version, it takes just another minute to request and generate a second or more until they are satisfied. DALLE-E runs at no cost, but Midjourney requires a $10 monthly subscription. Whereas, commissioning an actual artist to create a book cover can cost anywhere from $250-$3,000 depending on the detail.
This may be particularly useful for authors who are self-publishing and on a very tight budget. However, now we are starting to see distinguished publishing houses publish books that have covers mostly designed by AI, but then touched up by a human artist. For instance, Bloomsbury press, which gained notoriety from publishing the Harry Potter series, has denied their use of AI because it was touched up by an in-house artist; even with this loophole, AI is still AI. As well as Tor Books, well known for publishing fantasy and science fiction, have also admitted their AI usage in covers and apologized. Their apology indicates that they know AI usage is bad, and they should not have used it.
The purpose of publishers prompting AI for their covers is to save money and gain more profit. The most common strategy publishers use to do this is using the AI to generate an idea or a design and then hand it off to a human artist to add to and finalize. Due to the art not being the artist’s original idea or design, publishers can pay the artists less. Even so, publishers know they can’t create book covers completely without human artists because they bring their love and passion into everything they create, which gives art life. Therefore, if publishers want people to be drawn to their books, their covers need to still radiate with that human-created warmth. It is very easy to tell when something is inauthentic and is not made by a human and if a reader picks up on that, they may be dissuaded from buying the book.
Artists who rely on commission-based work in the book cover world are heavily impacted by this new practice. The increase in AI usage on book covers means less work and less money for them. Many are likely to be forced to find a new profession or means of profit while still designing book covers to be able to support themselves. Their art, which took years of practice to perfect, and their own personal style that each artist builds over time, is being completely discredited with AI generated images.
These AI programs did not train under another human for years or draw something by hand. It did not experience the very human and personal exchange of knowledge from human to human that learning and practicing art takes. All it does is mimic human creation and knowledge through programing. In my opinion, this is why organic human creation and thinking will always be better than AI, because it is the original.
I urge you, and these companies, to stop using AI and to exercise your own abilities to create and think; you might just like it.