Esther Bennink's AI policy

What are our guarantees:

-NO AI is used for painting or creating illustrations; everything is painted by hand.

-No AI is used in communication with clients; you speak or email with real people.

Where do we use AI?

1.      To remove the background from photos of my products (only assistive AI, meaning the subject itself remains unchanged and only the background disappears).

2.      We may consult a European Gen-AI for background information or tips to improve behind-the-scenes work (example: I can ask Gen AI what my AI policy might look like; of course, we check the correctness of the output and only use it as a tool). We always do this generatively, without sharing details about my company.

3.      My webshop uses Shopify. Shopify has an AI assistant on the 'backend' of the webshop that we sometimes ask a question if we can't find a setting or experience a technical problem.

Our view on AI

As an artist, I find it very frustrating that there are so many AI-generated 'pictures'. As a human, I find it annoying that with every image I see, I have to ask myself 'is this real'? As an artist, the relationship with this new phenomenon is very complicated, and I have to live with the fear of being unfairly (automatically) accused of AI use in my illustrations (which, fortunately, has not yet happened!). When I share my work, I now have to prove that I actually created it. Just sharing an illustration is no longer enough; I have to share my painting process, videos, and photos in my studio. So, with this AI development, I've suddenly been tasked with proving that what I create is 'real', and I resent that.

I have never created an AI image and, on principle, never will. I find it completely unnecessary, often harmful, and I wish the whole possibility didn't exist. Furthermore, my work is being 'fed and scraped' to AI without permission or consent so that AI can learn from it. My copyrights are being violated, but there's nothing I can do about it. It's a new era.

I strive to use as little AI as possible in my business and to always apply it thoughtfully when necessary. I will always weigh: 'can I figure this out myself, and how much will I gain by involving AI?' Simply because I actually found the world without AI more pleasant, and I care deeply about the environment.

Now, I'm going back to work with paint and a brush!