Copying, Influence, and AI Art
This kind of experiment illustrates why artists have every right to be concerned about people copying their work. It is too easy.
These images are not copyrighted originals, and I still would never put them on a t-shirt to sell to Crater Lake lovers, because making money off other people's work feels wrong to me.
The real question is where AI moves from "copying" to "being influenced by." Wherever that line is, humans should be held to the same standard.
I can read a lot of Hemingway and then write a book that is deeply influenced by him. At what point does influence cross the line into appropriation?