Greg Rutkowski, a digital artist known for his surreal style, opposes AI art but his name and style have been frequently used by AI art generators without his consent. In response, Stable Diffusion removed his work from their dataset in version 2.0. However, the community has now created a tool to emulate Rutkowski’s style against his wishes using a LoRA model. While some argue this is unethical, others justify it since Rutkowski’s art has already been widely used in Stable Diffusion 1.5. The debate highlights the blurry line between innovation and infringement in the emerging field of AI art.
But that’s not what they did, converting it into a set of instructions a computer can use to recreate it is just adding steps.
And, yes, that’s what they’ve done else we wouldn’t find pieces of others works mixed in.
Also, even if that was how it worked, it’s still theft of someone’s else’s labor to feed your business.
If it wasn’t, they would have asked for permission first.