Is it cheating or just the future of digital art? A Colorado man recently won a local art competition by using an AI-powered program.
Last week, Jason Allen posted on a Discord chat server that he won the top award for digital art at the Colorado State Fair fine arts competition, which included a $300 cash prize. However, he didn’t use conventional software drawing programs to create his art. Instead, he relied on an AI-based program called Midjourney, which can generate stunning, professional-looking art from a mere line of text.
Indeed, the image Allen used to win the competition is spectacular and certainly award-worthy. But he’s now facing a public backlash for using AI—and not genuine artistic skills—to win.
“Yeah that's pretty fucking shitty,” wrote one artist on Twitter, who caused Allen’s original post on Discord to go viral.
Allen posted about his win in the Discord chat server for Midjourney, which is currently available as a beta. In his defense, Allen said he spent “many weeks” fine-tuning the program before it was able to generate the award-winning art, which was then refined with Adobe Photoshop.
He also says he submitted the art to the competition using the words “Jason Allen via Midjourney,” although it doesn’t seem like he told the Colorado State Fair organizers what Midjourney can do.
Allen didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. But in response to the growing criticism, he told users in the Discord server that naysayers have been too quick to dismiss his own role in programming Midjourney to create the art.
“I knew this would be controversial,” he wrote in a Monday Discord post. “How interesting is it to see how all these people on Twitter who are against AI-generated art are the first ones to throw the human under the bus by discrediting the human element! Does this seem hypocritical to you guys?”
He also said he submitted the art "to make a statement" about using Midjourney "in a competitive manner." His win shows that AI-created images can beat art from humans. At the same time, it highlights the growing debate over whether AI programs will one day be able to replace professional artists.
A spokeswoman for the Colorado State Fair said the event's organizers are now aware that an AI-powered program generated Allen's art. But currently the rules have no prohibition against using artificial intelligence when it comes to the digital art category; organizers could end up revising the regulations in the future.
The public can also submit a formal complaint to the state fair if they believe the AI art broke the rules. But they must pay a $300 bond, which will kick off a formal review.
In the Discord chat, Allen also mentioned he was trying to sell the AI-created art the State Fair. His award-winning piece is listed at $750.