The criticism comes after Bonnier Förlag in Norway used the AI program Midjourney to illustrate the second book in the children’s book series about Miss Snushane instead of hiring a human creator. The Norwegian industry organization Grafill, among others, believes that this undermines the professional role of illustrators.
Bonnier confirmed An email to the newspaper Klassekampen, which first reported the incident, said that the book’s cover was created with the help of AI. The reason is said to have been that the original illustrator Odin Helgheim didn’t have the opportunity to work on the cover design this time.
Lene Renneflot, CEO of Grafill, believes illustrators are already seeing a decline in orders due to AI.
Norwegian illustrator Flu Hartberg, who is also the leader of the AI resistance group Kiki, is one of those who responded to what he said was a copyright infringement.
– The second cover is similar the original illustrator’s statement that it should be a copyright infringement. But this is a jungle of gray areas, and you could turn it around: As a consumer, I think this is a bad product. It affects Lindell’s text, says Hartberg to Klassekampen.
Alexander Even Henriksen, CEO of Bonnier Norsk Förlag, believes that the similarities between the two images are due to the fact that in both cases they were based on the same original sketches by the book author. He adds that the use of AI is deliberate. This after class camps.
– It is important that people act as creative authors and make the crucial artistic decisions. When AI takes over creative responsibility, we enter a more problematic landscape.
