“The Internet Furry Drama Raising Big Questions About Artificial Intelligence”, Whitney Kimball2020-05-17 (StyleGAN anime; similar)⁠:

Much of the fun of internet drama comes from its frivolousness, but sometimes an online shitfest points to something bigger. Last week, the AI-powered furry art site This Fursona Does Not Exist did just that, igniting a fandom firestorm while also highlighting an important debate about digital art. Trained on more than 55,000 images pulled (without permission) from a furry art forum, the algorithm was a simple case of art theft to some. For others, it was a chance to break out the popcorn. But legal scholars who spoke with Gizmodo said the conflict raises thorny questions about ownership in the age of AI—questions that may ultimately have to be answered in court.

…At least one person tried (and failed) to find proof that the algorithm was copying images from e621.net outright. And within days, the entire site was slapped with a DMCA copyright infringement complaint. (The company whose name the DMCA was issued in, according to Arfa, denied filing the notice and requested it be withdrawn.) Some degree of backlash is understandable. Furry fandom has long been a close-knit community of independent creators supported by individual commissions. A project aimed at mass-producing fursonas—using original art as training material, no less—could be seen as a threat to creators’ livelihood. Some commenters accused Arfa of disrespect and asked for the choice to opt out of the project. Others complained that their work had been uploaded to e621 without their permission in the first place.

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