Earlier in the week, I popped into Made590 to pick up a couple shirts⌠and whoops, a new Liberty dress was right there. It was Tana Lawn and it felt like silk, and I looked great in it. đ
I sent the photo to a couple friends, and one of them went by a few days later to pick one up for herself. That night she said, âYou know itâs AI-generated, right?â
Wait, what? Liberty of London? The famed 150-year-old âpurveyor of craftsmanship,â that prides itself on its âdedicated in-house design studioâ who are responsible for âhand painting and creating our beautiful printsâ? THAT Liberty of London?
Yep, them. Check the âEditorâs Notesâ:
For Avalon Scenes, the design studio approached Tom Furse, an artist and musician who specialises in creating artwork with AI in controlled environments. Harnessing the cutting-edge potential of AI technology, this design conjures a display of surreal landscapes morphing into psychedelic flower formsâŚ
Well, that sucks. I had a good long think about it. It really is a lovely dress. I am not against algorithmic art entirely, and I can see cases where Iâd be fine with this – like if the model was trained only on Libertyâs pattern archive. But I could find zero mention of the technology used, not on Libertyâs site or the artistâs website or Instagram. (The artist is actually a musician that seems to dabble in AI, so I doubt heâs training his own models for this.) I contacted Liberty through both their website and Facebook page to ask for details, explaining that I was concerned about whether the model used for their AI-generated fabric was trained on any stolen artwork, and how the environmental impacts of the project lived up to Libertyâs stated corporate social responsibility goals. I got a reply back asking âWhich AI-generated fabric specifically are you asking about?â
Not good.
I decided to return the dress today for one featuring Australian plants photographed straight from the shop ownerâs garden. Made590 were lovely about it, and I canât fault them – most people wouldnât feel as strongly about this as I do. But right now Iâm in the âno ethical use of AIâ camp, and Iâd rather pay artists for their art. Iâm so disappointed in Liberty – ACTUAL LIBERTY OF LONDON – jumping on the AI trend bandwagon. Ugh. Iâll update if they ever send me the details, but for now I feel a lot better about my pretty new dress.
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