Framing Responsible Creativity in the Age of Text-to-Image Generators

This paper focuses on an instance of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) of particular interest to visually oriented fields: text-to-image generators. This technology has evolved out of decades of work in computer science to create widely accessible tools that novices and experts alike in a range of disciplines can utilize to produce visual output, for both novelty and serious creative use. Every year, the number of published materials on GenAI increases exponentially, but the implications of visual GenAI tools have not been sufficiently examined within the field of art librarianship. This article is the product of one architecture librarian’s endeavor to understand visual GenAI, starting with the history of computer-aided art to the mechanisms behind image generators and the ethical and legal implications of these sophisticated tools. The purpose of the article is threefold: to provide contextual and historical information about generative AI in the visual and creative arts, to describe some of the current thinking around copyright and fair use in visual GenAI, and to propose ways that librarians can help their constituents understand, contextualize, and think critically about these tools—both as creators and as users of AI-generated images. This article seeks to answer the evolving and recurrent question of how best to support the research processes and creative practices of library patrons as they engage with the generative disruptions delivered by new technology.